Samsung's heir apparent excluded from annual promotion

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- Lee Jae-yong, the only son of former Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, was excluded from an annual promotion of executive officials at Samsung Electronics Co., the group said Monday, Samsung Electronics didn't promote the junior Lee, who is serving as senior vice president at the world's largest maker of computer memory chips, by one level to vice president because his term in the current post isn't finished, the group said in a statement.

The junior Lee, 40, is being groomed to take over Samsung Group, South Korea's
largest business conglomerate, but he was recently reassigned to the company's
overseas operations in the wake of a parliament-ordered corruption probe against
the group last year.
His 69-year-old father stepped down in April last year shortly before he was
convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to a three-year-suspended jail term.
Last week, Samsung Electronics announced a large-scale restructuring scheme that
calls for the company to combine its six business divisions into two major
groups, in a move intended to fight off the looming global economic recession.
Under the Monday's executive shake-up, Samsung promoted a total of 247
executive-level officials at its affiliates, including 91 executives at Samsung
Electronics.
"The number of executives promoted this year was cut by 22 percent from last year
to ensure the company copes with the worsening business conditions, which are set
to continue for the time being," Samsung Electronics said in a statement.
Samsung Electronics is also the world's largest maker of liquid-crystal displays.
The company ranks second in the world in global handset production behind
Finland's Nokia Corp.
The Samsung group, which accounts for roughly 20 percent of South Korean exports,
has 59 affiliates and employees some 250,000 workers worldwide.
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