Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong receives interviews before questioning in Seoul, South Korea, Jan. 12, 2017. The heir apparent of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, appeared in the office of an independent counsel team investigating a scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye for his alleged involvement in bribery charges. (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho)
The heir apparent of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, appeared in the office of an independent counsel team investigating a scandal involving impeached President Park Geun-hye for his alleged involvement in bribery charges.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong got out of a black sedan at around 9:30 a.m. local time Thursday outside the special prosecutor's office, telling reporters that he felt "very sorry to people" for this matter, local TV footage showed.
The Samsung heir apparent with a stiff look, surrounded by a crowd of journalists, didn't answer any questions and bowed his head before going inside the office.
Outside the office, civic group activists shouted for the imprisonment of chaebol heads, raising high the photos of other conglomerate chairmen, including Lee.
It marks the first time in about nine years that the de facto Samsung chief is questioned by a special prosecutor.
Lee, then executive director, was interrogated by a separate independent counsel in February 2008 for his alleged involvement in the illegal transfer of management control by floating convertible bonds of then de facto holding company at a much cheaper price for him.
He was acquitted, but his father Chairman Lee Kun-hee was sentenced to a suspended three-year prison term for tax evasion and embezzlement. The elder Lee was eventually pardoned four months later.
