On the 25th, Lee Chan-hee, Chairperson of the Samsung Compliance Committee, said of the Business Support Office, which was reorganized earlier this month, "Operation matters more than the name," adding, "We will continue to watch closely to see if there are any parts that could pose issues in the compliance area."
Meeting with reporters before the 3rd Compliance Committee's regular meeting held at the Samsung Life Insurance Seocho building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, the Chairperson said, "It is not yet clear how the Business Support Office will be operated," and stated accordingly. Earlier, on the 7th, Samsung Electronics reorganized the Business Support TF into the Business Support Office and appointed Park Hark-kyu as the new head of the Business Support Office.
Since the Business Support TF, launched in Nov. 2017 after the dismantling of the Future Strategy Office, has been formalized into a regular organization eight years later, analysis emerged that it would effectively serve as the group's control tower. Samsung Electronics has said this has nothing to do with rebuilding a control tower.
The Chairperson has maintained that rebuilding the group's control tower is necessary, saying it is needed "to strengthen corporations' competitiveness." The Chairperson said, "The Compliance Committee will do its utmost to prevent the control tower from becoming an organization for top management or one that carries the risk of collusion with the political sphere."
Regarding appointments of presidents and executives, the Chairperson said, "I believe that, due to the chair's legal risk so far, Samsung has not been able to actively pursue technology as much as it could," adding, "I think it is natural that Samsung put technological talent in key positions."
Samsung Electronics established a "two-CEO system" centered on CEO and President Roh Tae-Moon, head of the Device Experience (DX) division, and Vice Chair Jun Young-hyun, head of the Device Solutions (DS) division, and promoted many executives in future business areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and semiconductors.
Regarding the recent controversy over the leak of employee personal information at Samsung Biologics and elsewhere, the Chairperson said, "We intend to look closely at what problems there may be," adding, "We will discuss whether to take it up as the next agenda item at the committee." Recently, while Samsung Biologics was carrying out a companywide improvement effort, there was an incident in which confidential information on performance ratings and promotions and some personal information was exposed to employees without authorization.