Samsung group promotes chairman's younger daughter

SEOUL — South Korea’s Samsung group Wednesday promoted the chairman’s younger daughter, days after her older siblings were elevated in what was seen as the start of a third generation of family management.

Lee Seo-Hyun has been promoted by one level to executive vice president of fashion and textile affiliate Cheil Industries.

South Korea’s largest business group said in a statement 489 other executives were also promoted in its biggest such reshuffle.

The exercise is designed to “strengthen a pool of potential CEO candidates to lead our future management and accelerate responsible management in each business unit”, the group said.

Last Friday group flagship Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest maker of flat screens and memory chips, promoted Jay Y.Lee, only son of chairman Lee Kun-Hee, to company president.

At the same time Lee Boo-Jin, 40, the chairman’s elder daughter, was named president and CEO of the Hotel Shilla affiliate and president of the group’s de facto holding company Samsung Everland.

Samsung was launched in 1938 when Lee Byung-Chull, the son of a wealthy landowner, opened a trading company. The founder’s son Lee Kun-Hee, 68, remains as chairman.

The group has dozens of affiliates and accounts for nearly 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.