The Lee family (from Inheritance: Samsung): Part two

Summary

Good Bad Billionaire – The Lee Family (from Inheritance: Samsung): Part Two

BBC World Service | April 29, 2026
Hosts: Simon Jack and Zing Tsjeng (series hosts – narration and investigation by Elise Hu for "Inheritance")

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the dramatic and high-stakes story of the Lee family, heirs and leaders of Samsung—South Korea’s largest conglomerate. The focus is on moments of crisis and transition: the near-death and subsequent coma of longtime chairman KH Lee, and how his incapacitation throws both the family and the company into uncertainty. The episode also explores the origins of Samsung under Lee Byung-chul (BC Lee), and the fraught relationship between the family, the government, and the Korean public, revealing how Samsung’s fate has often been intertwined with historical events and national identity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Crisis at the Top

• KH Lee’s Health Decline

  • [01:48] The episode opens in 2014 with rumors before being confirmed that Samsung chairman KH Lee has suffered a heart attack and is hospitalized in a coma.
  • Samsung’s secrecy exacerbates the sense of uncertainty within South Korea.

• Immediate Impact on Samsung

  • [02:36] JY Lee (Lee Jae Yong), KH Lee’s only son, is summoned home. He’s the acting leader but not the official successor.
  • The company is at a precarious moment, still embroiled in its high-profile legal war with Apple and facing fierce competition in the tech market.

2. The Lee Family and South Korea’s Economic Psyche

• Importance to National Economy
  • [04:44-05:16] Samsung is called the "Republic of Samsung"—the company accounts for 1/5 of national GDP. The chairman’s health crisis is seen as destabilizing for the country's entire economy.
  • Quote – Seo Jin Lim: “They were quite shocked and worried about the future of Korea's economy then because Samsung was the very significant leader of the economy for them.” [04:44]
• Succession Traditions and Expectations
  • [06:03] Despite its vast influence, the chaebol culture is patriarchal; succession is expected to run through the male line (JY Lee).
  • JY Lee is perceived as more reserved and less charismatic compared to his father, leading some to question his readiness.

3. Character Studies: JY Lee vs. His Sister

• Leadership Styles & Public Perception
  • [06:56] JY Lee: “More shy and quiet and cautious, a little bit aloof, a little bit unsure.” – South Korean business reporter & Jeffrey Kane.
  • His eldest sister is praised for her intelligence and style, gaining the nickname “the little KH Lee” but, due to tradition, is mostly seen as a secondary contender. [07:52]

4. The Stakes of Inheritance

• Complexity of Taking Control
  • [08:05] The transfer of power is complicated due to South Korea's steep inheritance tax (up to 60%), making succession as much a financial as a familial challenge.
  • [08:55] “He [JY Lee] is a billionaire, but he doesn’t have enough money raised yet to pay the inheritance tax.” – Jeffrey Kane
  • [09:06] To pay the tax, JY would have to sell shares, weakening his control: "If he were to start offloading his shares and selling parts of the company, he would dilute his ownership..." – Jeffrey Kane

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5. Flashback: Samsung’s Foundations and Early Troubles

• Origins with BC Lee (Lee Byung-chul)

  • [10:05-13:05] The narrative shifts to the 1960s, recounting Samsung’s humble beginnings and the political turbulence of Korea after the Japanese occupation and Korean War.
  • [14:38-15:24] During a 1961 military coup, founder BC Lee is summoned by General Park Chung Hee, who dislikes the chaebol class for representing inherited privilege counter to his vision of a “modern republic.”

• The "Grand Bargain" with Power

  • [19:14-20:13] BC Lee convinces President Park that his business would serve the national interest by creating jobs and taxable revenue but is punished anyway, forced to surrender banks and pay heavy fines in lieu of prison.

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6. Scandal and Sacrifice: The Fertilizer Factory Affair

• A State-Ordered Project Goes Awry

  • [21:47-25:17] Ordered to build a fertilizer factory to lift Korea’s rural economy, Samsung’s project becomes embroiled in scandal over alleged smuggling of lucrative chemicals (for saccharin) under the guise of fertilizer imports.
  • [26:12-26:54] The public outcry climaxes when a politician throws a bucket of feces (“Eat this saccharine!”) over government ministers, samplifying outrage against corporate and government corruption.

• Family Fallout

  • [27:34-28:13] BC Lee’s son (Lee Chang Hee), in charge of the plant, is convicted and jailed; BC Lee, publicly discredited, steps down as Samsung chairman and surrenders the factory to the government.

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7. Unresolved Questions and Next Steps

• The episode concludes with uncertainty about Samsung’s future leadership, both in the founder’s era and in the present, creating a parallel between then and now.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On South Korea’s reliance on Samsung:

  • “Samsung was the very significant leader of the economy for them.” – SEO Jin Lim [04:44]

• On corporate succession pressure:

  • “It’s a bit sexist, I think, but in Korean chaebol there is this tradition where only the sons inherit the important businesses. … What wasn’t as obvious, I think, was whether he was really prepared for that role.” – South Korean business reporter [06:03]

• On JY Lee’s dilemma:

  • “He’s a billionaire. But he doesn’t have enough money raised yet to be able to pay the inheritance tax.” – Jeffrey Kane [08:55]
  • “If he were to start offloading his shares … he would dilute his ownership and he would end up not being in control of Samsung. That’s the core problem.” – Jeffrey Kane [09:06]

• On BC Lee’s negotiating style:

  • “So BC made his case that he would work for the national interest.” – Jeffrey Kane [19:14]
  • On handing over the fertilizer plant: “The factory he dreamed of running to help lift his country out of poverty had simply been handed over to the government. What else could he do?” – Narrator [28:13]

• On public outrage:

  • “Eat this saccharine. What was in the bag was actually human feces.” – Jeffrey Kane [26:48]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:48 — KH Lee’s health crisis & public reaction
• 06:03 — Traditional succession expectations and questions about JY Lee
• 08:05 — Inheritance tax challenges and family financial maneuvers
• 10:05 — BC Lee & the military coup backdrop
• 14:38 — Park Chung Hee’s suspicion and confrontation with BC Lee
• 19:14 — The “grand bargain”: BC Lee’s plea and government deal
• 21:47 — President Park orders the fertilizer factory
• 25:05 — Fertilizer plant/saccharin scandal emerges
• 26:54 — Public humiliation and political theatre in National Assembly
• 27:34 — BC Lee surrenders factory; son faces prison

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Tone and Style

The narration maintains a suspenseful, investigative journalistic tone, drawing on archival research and expert commentary. There’s a balance of vivid scene-setting (hospital, boardrooms, factories) and candid, sometimes wry, observations about the interplay between money, politics, and family.

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Conclusion

This episode illuminates the fiercely intertwined destinies of Samsung, the Lee family, and modern South Korea. It captures the drama and fragility of inherited power, exposing the immense pressures and scandals that have shaped the company’s legacy. By dramatizing both past and present, the episode provides a nuanced understanding of how the Lee dynasty’s struggle for succession and survival reflects—and continues to influence—the national story.

Transcript

[Narrator/Host]

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[South Korean Business Reporter]

I first remember that there were rumors about KH Lee being in poor health, but there was no confirmation. Of course, Samsung is very secretive about that kind of issue.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

It's May 2014, a year before shareholders will gather for that controversial vote on the merger between two important Samsung businesses. Jae Yon Lee, like many South Koreans, has been aware of the Samsung leader's declining health for some time.

[South Korean Business Reporter]

And then I remember seeing on the news that he had had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital, and people started to sense that maybe the end of an era was coming.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

That was a week ago. The Samsung chairman, KH Lee, lies still in a hospital bed. Machines rhythmically beep and whirr and hiss. His son, Lee Jae Yong, or as we're calling him, Jae Y. Lee, has returned from a business trip in the U.S. the hectic life of Samsung's emergency boss is on a brief pause, because that's what J.Y. lee is now his formal succession is still far from secure. But for now, he's the obvious stopgap. The conglomerate's best known business, Samsung Electronics, is one of the most profitable tech firms in the world. But it has to compete to stay that way. There's a lot going on. A costly business war rumbles on in the courtroom against American tech giant Apple as new smartphone makers try to chip away at Samsung's global dominance. What the Samsung empire needs right now is stability. KH Lee had grown visibly frail ever since his cancer diagnosis more than a decade ago. He'd had lung problems and just last year he'd been hospitalized with pneumonia.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

He wasn't giving the grand speeches anymore and he had delegated a lot of responsibility to his executives to take care of the company for him.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

The business and technology journalist Jeffrey Kane remembers KH Lee's retreat from the spotlight.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

He spent many of his elder years in his house in Seoul, which is called Seungji Won. It is a gorgeous palatial estate at the top of a hill in the central part of Seoul.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Chairman KH Lee had been taken to hospital for emergency heart surgery. He's been in a coma ever since. SEO Jin Lim is co director of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Lancashire in England. She was born and raised in Seoul.

[SEO Jin Lim, Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies]

When we heard that KH Lee had a heart attack, it was quite a significant moment for the people who would think, oh, what would happen in Samsung and especially for the older generation who grew up with most of the mid age life with South Korea's economic development period. They were quite shocked and worried about the future of Korea's economy then because Samsung was the very significant the leader of the economy for them.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Over the 25 years that he had run Samsung, KH Lee had transformed it from a successful Korean chaebol family business into a global maker of smartphones, TVs and memory chips. Its influence in South Korean life is all encompassing. From hospitals and schools to hotels and baseball, it's known by many as the Republic of Samsung. And as the company's fortunes have lifted, so too have South Korea's. Samsung's annual sales account for one fifth of the country's gdp. But now, with the chairman close to death, the question is, who will take his place? Jae Yon Lee reporter at South Korean

[South Korean Business Reporter]

newspaper Hangyer It's a bit sexiest, I think, but in Korean chaebol there is this tradition where only the sons inherit the important businesses. And J.Y. lee was the only son in the family, so people automatically thought that he would inherit what wasn't as Obvious, I think, was whether he was really prepared for that role.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

For years, Jay Wy Lee's father had been preparing his son to one day take over the family firm. Since the early 1990s, he'd cycled through all the sorts of roles you'd expect of someone being groomed for the top job. Chief customer officer, chief operating officer. Now he's vice chairman, just one rung from the top of the ladder, but he has enormous shoes to fill.

[South Korean Business Reporter]

From what could be seen, his character was just really different from that of his father. While his father was seen as very aggressive and just very goal oriented, Jay Wiley was seen as more shy and quiet and cautious, a little bit aloof,

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

a little bit unsure.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

And he isn't one for publicity. He doesn't do product launches, he doesn't do interviews. He isn't prey for the paparazzi. He hasn't captured the hearts of South Koreans. His eldest sister, on the other hand,

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

she was seen as sharp, likable, intelligent. She had a bit of glamour around her. She's really into fashion. And so one of the things about the Lee family, South Korean paparazzi and tabloid media, they just go wild for them. They're always trying to watch, you know, what handbag does she have? What car is she driving?

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

She's also proven herself in business. Some are talking her up as a leadership rival. To her brother, J.Y.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

lee, she was seen as a more capable leader. She got the nickname the little KH Lee.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

But there's a snag for both of them. Although a series of gifts, mergers and stock flotations over the last 20 years has gradually shifted control of most of the empire to KH Lee's wife and children. The project to secure family control of Samsung isn't finished. Whoever takes control of the company will have to complete the complex plan. And that's not all. Elderly KH Lee has become one of the richest men in South Korea, a country with one of the highest rates of inheritance tax in the world, up to 60%. Whoever takes the crown will be on the hook for a Fortune more than $5 billion. Jay Wiley is rich.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

He's a billionaire. But he doesn't have enough money raised yet to be able to pay the inheritance tax.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

His riches are in Samsung shares, not cash.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

If he were to start offloading his shares and selling parts of the company, he would dilute his ownership and he would end up not being in control of Samsung. That's the core problem.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

J.Y. lee will have to move fast. I'm Elise Hu from the BBC World Service. This is Inheritance the stories of the families behind some of the world's biggest companies. Our journalists have scoured the archives, combed through memoirs and hand picked experienced observers to take you inside these dynasties. At times, we'll recreate as faithfully as we can, the pivotal moments, all to understand how powerful empires are built and passed on. Season 1 Samsung Episode 2 of 10 Move fast and Break Things. To understand why Chairman KH Lee's heart attack is so devastating, not only on a human level, but for the business, we first need to understand why the family and why Samsung is so complicated. And to do that we need to go back more than five decades before J.Y. lee and his father K.H. lee, to Samsung's first chairman, J.Y. lee's grandfather, to the man who founded the company. His name is Lee Byung Chul. BC Lee. It's June 1961 and BC Lee steps out of the bright summer sunshine and into a cavernous room. As his eyes adjust to the light, he no doubt takes in his surroundings. A hard stone floor, flag draped walls, soldiers in crisp fatigues flanking each entrance at the other end of the room waits a man. A man with the power to snatch away everything BC Lee has spent his last two decades building. BC Lee had tried to avoid this moment altogether, but his country is in crisis. The previous April, a student led uprising fueled by anger at poverty, government corruption and repression had toppled South Korea's autocratic President Syngman Rhee. In the months that followed, B.C. lee could only watch helplessly as Samsung's offices were raided, assets confiscated and his own tax affairs pulled apart. Protesters had unjustly, in B.C. lee's view, accused chaebols, large family businesses like his own, of crony capitalism. It's when companies thrive not through free and fair competition, but by sidling up to those in power, even paying them bribes to turn a blind eye to malpractice. But the unrest didn't stop there.

[Narrator/Host]

In first pictures from Seoul, following the pre dawn military coup that overthrew the South Korean government, troops guard public buildings in the early hours of martial law

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

proclaimed by the the man at the end of the room who has summoned the Samsung chairman is Park Joong Hee, the general who has just taken power in a military coup. He is wary of people like BC Lee.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

When Park Chung Hee, the original dictator of South Korea, took power, he hated these companies. He thought that they were a bane to the existence of this republic he was trying to build. And the reason he thought that was because he thought that family wealth, family Aristocracy is antithetical to building a modern republic. That's what he wanted for Korea.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

The country is still suffering economic hardship following the Korean War a decade earlier. It was a battle that split the country into communist north and capitalist south, each backed by Cold War rivals who wanted control of the Korean peninsula. And when the General Park Jung Hee took over, he kind of wanted to

[SEO Jin Lim, Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies]

remove the accusation by the people that this government is corrupt.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

He wanted to consolidate his grip on power. And punishing the powerful but unpopular chaebol owners was a popular move. And one of the biggest chaebols at this time is Samsung.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

BC Lee had this reputation for being the freewheeling wealthy playboy of Korea. He was the richest man in the 1950s.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

B.C. lee had started Samsung in 1938 as a fruit and vegetable business, exporting produce to China. The name literally means three stars. Sam meaning three, but also in Korean, symbolizing big and strong, and sung meaning stars and symbolizing, well, shining brightly. For B.C. lee, it perfectly encapsulates his vision for the company. By the 1950s, the business had grown, acquiring a sugar refining firm, a wool spinning plant, a brewery, some banks, an insurance company, and a university. BC Lee was not the kind of guy to put all of his eggs in one basket.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

When the coup d' etat happened, B.C. lee was in a hotel in Japan.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Japan was his refuge. When he was able to escape there, it was like a second home and where he'd spent many years studying as a young man, he'd been getting ready for an early morning round of golf. When his Japanese driver had told him about the coup, he'd felt anxious, though not enough to postpone the round. But a few days later, according to B.C. lee's autobiography, the source for much of

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

this information, two government agents showed up at his hotel in Japan. They left the note telling him to return to South Korea or else.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Back in that cavernous room, B.C. lee feels the hard stare of a short, stern looking man.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

Park Chung Hee really has this military martial ethos to him. He's a military man. He served in the Japanese colonial military in the past and. And he's very much a dictator. He's not friendly to B.C. lee, and it's clear from this meeting that he will put BC Lee in jail if BC Lee does not cooperate with the government.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Perhaps. The light glints off the man's sunglasses unnervingly as he strides towards him.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

And so President park said, you can say anything, so speak without reservations.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Is this a trap? Does General park expect him to apologize? Is he looking for a bribe.

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[Narrator/Host]

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[Narrator/Documentary Host]

BC Lee needs to tread carefully with South Korea's new leader. But in this moment, as he writes in his autobiography, he decides the best policy is to speak his mind. It's A gamble. Other chaebol owners have just been sent to prison by the new dictator, he tells the general. He doesn't believe there's anything wrong in businessmen accumulating wealth.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

So BC Made his case that he would work for the national interest.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Businesses create jobs, he tells the general, which improve livelihoods, which raise taxes, which pay for national defense. Schools, roads, ports. How can South Korea climb out of poverty, B.C. urges, without its giants of capitalism?

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

But Park Chung Hee first shot back. He said the people will not accept this solution.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Maybe they won't, but then it's the job of politics to convince them. B.C. tells him, feeling bolder, more on the front foot now.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

And so the grand bargain, he decided, would be that prison time would be pointless for BC Lee because that would strip Samsung of its uses. BC Lee and Samsung were still extremely useful to South Korea. But instead, B.C. lee would have to pay up. And so he had to give up his three banks to the government. He also had to pay $4.4 million in today's money in unpaid taxes and

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

penalties, but at least no prison. The deal is clear. Samsung can survive. But only if it does Park Chung Hee's bidding. April 1967. Six years since B? Sili stood in front of Park Chung Hee. A curious collection of men stand in a small, small fishing town of Ulsan in the southeast of the country. They're here for a dedication ceremony. Korean farmers wearing wide, brimmed hats stand alongside men in suits, businessmen and politicians. Spring mists hang above the fields. But there's something else. Clouds of pungent air engulf the men. A stench of rotten eggs belched from the tower of a vast, newly built fertilizer factory. Presiding over the opening ceremony is the man who built it, B.C. lee, the chairman of Samsung. As a boy growing up in rural Korea, B.C. lee had witnessed farmers struggling to get enough food from the land. He'd wanted to help his country become more self sufficient. The timing, the finances, had never quite been right. But when the newly installed dictator, who had been elevated from General to president in 1963, had offered him an ultimatum, let's just say the moment suddenly felt right.

[SEO Jin Lim, Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies]

President park ordered Samsung to open the factory. President park was known to understand the importance of the agricultural sector development because he himself was from those rural places. And also, the fertilizer was quite a significant thing. To achieve the development, Park Chung Hee

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

had begun harnessing the power and money of chaebols to build a new, modern South Korea.

[SEO Jin Lim, Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies]

Because everybody was so poor and most of the people lost their land properties by The Japanese. So around that time, at the rural places, you just exchange, for example, your rice with your clothes for something like that.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

South Korea had a barter economy, a far cry from the thriving, export driven, taxpaying population the President wanted. He had a lot of work to do, almost starting from scratch. And to understand why, we need to travel a little further back in time. Up until relatively recently, South Korea had been part of the Japanese empire. It's all B.C. lee had known from his birth in 1910 to the end of World War II and Japan's defeat. B.C. lee himself had worked with Japanese businessmen and politicians to get Samsung started in those early days in the late 1930s, it was the Japanese, when they occupied the peninsula in the early 20th century, who had built Korean infrastructure.

[SEO Jin Lim, Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies]

Most of the factories, the railway facilities, were built by Japanese in northern side of Korean peninsula because that was a way to go up to Manchuria.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Manchuria, where the Korean peninsula meets China. The south, though, largely missed out.

[SEO Jin Lim, Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies]

So in southern part of Korean peninsula, we didn't have those kind of facilities. And also the natural mineral resources in South Korea was a lot less than the north side.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

That's the situation when the Japanese Empire is defeated and collapses in the 1940s and its grip on Korea ends. And it meant that when the peninsula was split in two along the 38th parallel following the Korean War of the early 1950s, the south lost out.

[SEO Jin Lim, Co-Director of the International Institute of Korean Studies]

There was literally nothing for South Koreans to start with. Some people even compared the South Korean economy that time was lower than the North Korean economy.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

B.C. lee's country had been dependent on aid from the U.S. ever since. In fact, his reason for starting Samsung had been to try and change that. And this fertilizer factory, despite the ultimatum, had the potential to do good. It had taken 18 months to build. Record quick time. Dozens of cargo ships groaning under the weight of chemicals, construction materials and heavy machinery had crossed the Sea of Japan and docked at the purpose built pier in Ulsan Port. But not all of the new raw materials, it seems, had been bound for the new factory.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

Some of the chemicals that were brought in the country to make this fertilizer were sold to a saccharin processing firm for a $40,000 profit. This was another big industry in South Korea at the time.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Saccharin, the artificial sweetener, is big business. And it seems someone has set up a rather profitable sideline. The reports about what exactly was smuggled differ whether it was saccharin itself or the ingredients to make it. And we're not sure if the goods were stolen from the fertilizer project, as Jeff suggests, or whether the factory build was used as a cover to smuggle in something else. But whatever happened, the point is this fertilizer plant had nothing to do with sweeteners. And whoever was pocketing the proceeds was breaking the law. And then somehow word had got out.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

The government made a big deal out of this. They launched a crackdown. President park said that this was a major crime against national integrity.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

It became a huge scandal. The news that someone had been enriching themselves under the cloak of a project designed to lift all South Koreans out of poverty. The scandal had led to angry scenes in South Korea's National Assembly. Some politicians thought the government was in on it. One assemblyman, a former gangster and activist with a feisty reputation, had launched into a tirade carrying a three gallon bucket marked saccharine. Once he'd finished, he prized off the lid, dashed over to where the ministers were sitting and thrown the contents over

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

them and shouted, eat this saccharine. What was in the bag was actually human feces.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

Jeff's being polite. What the politician actually said was eat. Well, you can guess it still begins with an S. The secret sideline had become a national uproar. And it wasn't just politicians in the firing line. The second of B.C. lee's three sons, Lee Chang Hee, had been in charge of the fertilizer project on behalf of Samsung. He was accused of being in on it or at best asleep at the wheel. The president needed to sacrifice someone and however you looked at it, the finger was pointed firmly at him. BC Lee even says he will step down as Samsung chairman.

[Business and Technology Journalist (Jeffrey Kane)]

The government pressure was relentless. And it's not just government pressure, but public pressure. The national assembly was upset. And you have to remember, BC Lee was not a popular guy. He was seen as somebody who had worked with Japan in the past. He was a capitalist who made his money under Japanese colonialism and. And so anything out of line would have been enough to rile the public anger at him. So stepping down from Samsung, this was an attempt to try to show that he was humbled by all this, that he would do what he could to make this right. And then he surrendered the fertilizer plant to show that he was serious.

[Narrator/Documentary Host]

The factory he dreamed of running to help lift his country out of poverty had simply been handed over to the government. What else could he do? But it wasn't enough. BC Lee's son was still sentenced to prison. Back to that misty egg smelling opening ceremony, what B.C. lee had hoped would be a new beginning for his business is now little more than a handover. But the whole ordeal had left Samsung with a much bigger problem. Now that B.C. lee has stepped down as chairman, the company needs someone else to take his place. B.C. lee has three sons. One is in prison and there are big question marks over the other two. So who's he going to choose? That's next time on Inheritance.

[South Korean Business Reporter]

Sam.

[Narrator/Host]

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