Samsung’s Heir Apparent Makes Shaky Debut as Korea’s Top Boss

  • Lee grilled by lawmakers in parliamentary investigation
  • Hearing probes business groups’ involvement in Park scandal

Jay Y. Lee, co-vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., center, speaks during a parliamentary hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, on Dec. 6, 2016.

Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
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As the leader of Samsung Group stuttered and stalled his way through a parliamentary corruption hearing on Tuesday, an exasperated lawmaker rounded on him and quipped that, if this were a job interview at his company, the head of Asia’s biggest technology giant would struggle getting hired.

“I don’t think you would get a good score if you answered this way,” opposition politician Kim Han-jung told Jay Y. Lee, de-facto head of Samsung Group. “You would fail.”