Scandal Highlights Samsung's Mixed Image

From Associated Press
November 17, 2007 5:57 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea - South Koreans take great pride in Samsung, known worldwide for sleek flat-screen TVs, high-tech mobile phones, hulking container ships and mega-construction projects.

But a spreading bribery scandal has renewed old concerns about the perceived power and influence of the "Republic of Samsung" - as the conglomerate has been called - within the Republic of Korea, South Korea's formal name.

"Samsung has two faces," wrote Kim Byung-su, the editorial page editor at the liberal Hankyoreh newspaper. "The Samsung brand is a name recognized worldwide and makes you proud. Take a step back, however, and there is another Samsung."

In the latest scandal, Kim Yong-chul, a former top Samsung lawyer, went public this month with allegations that Chairman Lee Kun-hee and other officials masterminded a campaign to raise slush funds to pay prosecutors, judges and lawmakers and influence a high-profile court case.
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