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U.S. companies have urged South Korean President Moon Jae-in to release Samsung chair Lee Jae-yong, arguing that billionaire executive could boost Joe Biden’s efforts to eliminate US reliance on chips computer products produced in foreign countries.
Samsung is heavy multimillion-dollar investments to semiconductor facilities in the U.S., with the Seoul-based group considering the locations and Austin, where it already has a chip factory, as well as Phoenix and New York.
Following the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government and companies are desperately trying locate supply chains for crucial technologies, including semiconductors.
Among the first initiatives of his presidency, Biden presented a $ 50 billion plan to boost the American semiconductor industry. But the focus on resurrecting the American self-sufficiency of computer chips has intensified after one world scarcity in chips used in automobiles has also begun to affect other industries.
The Korean American Chamber of Commerce warned Moon, however, that South Korea’s status as a U.S. strategic partner was in jeopardy if Samsung, the largest chip maker in the world, no longer pledged to support Biden’s efforts, according to a letter from the Financial Times.
“We believe the forgiveness of Samsung’s top executive is in the best economic interest of both the U.S. and Korea,” said James FT, chief executive of the chamber at FT.
The calls coincided with Moon’s trip to Washington for a summit with Biden, with whom he will meet on Friday.
Lee is serve 18 months behind bars for bribery Geun-hye Park, the former president, in what prosecutors and critics said, was a scheme designed to secure control over the Samsung group, South Korea’s largest company. The richest man in South Korea faces off other charges supposedly linked to his succession.
While the 52-year-old continues to control Samsung from his prison cell on the southern outskirts of Seoul, the strictly hierarchical nature of the family-controlled company means a certain hiring capacity is limited, critics said.
Presidential pardons for convicted businessmen and political leaders have been a common feature of South Korean politics. For decades, the heads of many chaebol families, the powerful business elite, avoided imprisonment or reduced sentences with pardons. In 2015, Chey Tae-won, head of SK Group, South Korea’s third largest company, was pardoned by Park.
However, the issue of pardons is deep divides the South Koreans. Before becoming President Moon he pledged to end the practice.
The situation that groups Moon is that his two immediate predecessors, Park and Lee Myung-bak, are also behind bars for bribery and corruption. His supporters have also sought pardons.
The Korean American Chamber of Commerce, which has about 800 member companies, is “apolitical” and has joined many South Korean business and industrial groups in seeking Lee’s early release, Kim said. , the chief executive.
Beyond economic cooperation, Moon and Biden are expected to debate North Korean nuclear weapons, sanctions, coronavirus vaccines and regional security in response to China’s threats.
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