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Political power should end collecting funds from businesses

Political power should end collecting funds from businesses

Posted February. 18, 2017 07:10,   

Updated February. 18, 2017 07:14

한국어

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was arrested in a surprise move on Friday for the charge of 43 billion won (36.3 million U.S. dollars) worth of bribes to President Park Geun-hye, who allegedly colluded with her confidante Choi Soon-sil. His arrest came 19 days after the court rejected the independent counsel’s bid to seek an arrest warrant for Lee on Jan. 19 by citing lack of evidence on his bribery charges. “Given the facts of suspected crimes that have been prepared anew and evidence that has been collected additionally, the cause and need for Lee’s arrest is admitted,” said judge Han Jeong-seok in charge of issuing warrants. The Korea International Trade Association issued a statement suggesting that Lee’s arrest is feared to spread negative perception towards all entrepreneurs and cause a setback in entrepreneurship in our society.

The crisis of Samsung, whose operation profit accounts for 30 percent of the Korean manufacturing industry’s, can be considered a crisis of the Korean economy. Even if Samsung’s Future Strategy Office and heads of group affiliates properly operate, decision-making over the entire group, such as large-scale mergers & acquisitions, governance reshuffle and biotech business, will be suspended until around May when the lower court will likely issue a ruling. For one, Samsung cannot afford to even set the schedule for regular recruitment of new employees from college graduates. Managerial vacuum at Samsung is thus affecting even job opportunities for young Koreans. Foreign media outlets have already made analyses that Lee’s arrest will deal a blow to the Korean business sector. Korea is facing a period of looming fluctuations when international confidence in the Korean economy can be wildly swayed by variables surrounding Samsung.

The court may have applied stricter standards on Lee than previous ones apparently because our society has higher expectations on companies, not necessarily because Lee’s suspected crimes were way more severe. However, we wonder if any business leaders can dare to decline three-time blunt requests by the president asking financial contributions. Against this backdrop, presidential hopefuls such as Minjoo Party’s former leader Moon Jae-in, South Chungcheong Governor Ahn Hee-jeong, and People’s Party co-chair Ahn Cheol-soo are all welcoming Lee’s arrest in unison. They seem to think that voicing concern over possible impact on the economy will negatively affect voters’ sentiment towards them.

The Korean society should make a clean break of political power and businesses while re-establishing bilateral relationship from scratch. Donations of political nature that have been made primarily by business organizations including the Federation of Korean Industries should be completely discarded, and those in power should never make any demands of conglomerates. To this end, presidential candidates should declare that they will never interfere with entrepreneurial activities. Korea should transform Samsung’s crisis into a great opportunity.