Smog, scandals and Samsung
The otherwise glorious city of Seoul is currently choking under a thick blanket of pollution that has sent stocks of home appliance makers (think air purifiers and humidifiers) soaring.
One man lucky enough to escape the haze is Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung, South Korea's largest and most successful conglomerate. Mr Lee has departed on a trip to the fresh pastures of Europe, where he hopes "to secure a new engine for growth" (M&A ahoy!) and meet global business partners.
But Mr Lee might have other reasons for steering clear of his native land. The 49-year-old scion last month walked free from prison after a judge suspended his sentence for corruption. The decision left some South Koreans … unhappy.
Since then, Samsung has been keeping a low profile, hoping not to incur any bad will before Mr Lee's case reaches a final trial before the supreme court later this year. The group did not even celebrate its big 8-0 birthday last week.
More conspicuously, however, Mr Lee was absent from Samsung Electronics' annual general meeting on Friday. Perhaps he was concerned some plucky shareholder might ask why he remained on the company's board while maintaining a conviction for corruption. In the end, nobody said a peep.
The company, meanwhile, made an effort to shake up its governance, appointing only the second woman in its history to the board. An executive said he hoped the new "younger leadership" would help the company "better respond to a rapidly changing global IT industry". The average age of the new board, you ask? 60.
Much like the smog, scandals come and go for South Korea. Samsung always remains.
Twitter: @bryanhimself
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