Samsung Electronics(005930) Chairperson Choi Seung-ho of the Samsung Group supra-enterprise labor union Samsung Electronics branch (supra-enterprise union), the largest union, explained the allegations over the purchase of his Genesis GV80 by saying it was a car he bought with help from his wife's family about a year before he began union activities.
After it became known recently that Chairperson Choi had signed a contract for rally supplies with a company run by his father-in-law, and as claims linking the car purchase to financial support from his wife's family spread on anonymous office worker communities, he moved to directly refute them.
According to the industry on the 10th, Chairperson Choi posted an article titled "Guide on the Blind GV80 controversy" on the union bulletin board late the previous night. Chairperson Choi said it was a "GV80 purchased in 2023," adding, "It is true that during COVID-19, after losing a lot of money in stocks and facing a difficult situation, my wife's family provided help."
The vehicle registration certificate that Chairperson Choi released together lists the initial registration date as Apr. 18, 2023. Chairperson Choi went on to say, "Supra-enterprise union activities began in July 2024, when I served as head of public relations." The point is that the car was purchased about 1 year and 3 months before he began union activities.
Chairperson Choi also argued that remarks by Vice Chairperson Lee Song-i of the supra-enterprise union became a trigger for the spread of suspicions related to the vehicle. Choi said, "Vice Chairperson Lee also apologized for having distorted it as if I received benefits from my wife's family during union activities."
Recently, on the Samsung Electronics board of the anonymous office worker community Blind, posts criticizing Chairperson Choi's GV80 purchase process and support from his wife's family have been uploaded one after another. Some posts mentioned together that Chairperson Choi bought the vehicle with help from his wife's family and that afterward a company run by his father-in-law won a contract to supply union rally items. However, because Blind is an anonymous board, the identity of the poster and the basis for the claims were not verified.
Chairperson Choi also explained that the background to transacting with his father-in-law's company for rally supplies the previous day was not to provide undue benefits to relatives. According to the supra-enterprise union, at the time of purchasing vests, the quotes by company were 8,500 won from Company A, whose CEO is Chairperson Choi's father-in-law, 10,000 won from Company B, and 12,000 won from Company C. The supra-enterprise union said it compared price, quality, delivery schedule, and work experience comprehensively and purchased vests from the relatively cheaper Company A and Company B.
Chairperson Choi argued that the vendor selection was not decided by him alone but went through the consent of the Joint Struggle Headquarters executive team. However, the National Samsung Electronics Labor Union, which participated in the Joint Struggle Headquarters at the time, issued a separate statement countering that it had "no prior knowledge whatsoever" of the contract with the father-in-law's company.
Various allegations surrounding Chairperson Choi surfaced as the supra-enterprise union pushed to transition into a union centered on the Samsung Electronics Device Solutions (DS) division, amid growing internal conflict.
Executives belonging to the Device eXperience (DX) division within the supra-enterprise union have opposed the transition to a DS-centered union. The supra-enterprise union recently announced the "2026 5th general assembly" and began a no-confidence vote process against Vice Chairperson Lee and Gwangju chapter head Lee Won-il. Both are in the DX division.