Slashdot Mirror
Samsung Caught Bribing Government Officials
Dekortage writes "Allegedly, electronics giant Samsung Electronics attempted to bribe a South Korean government official with 5 million won (US$5,445). Ironically, the official was Lee Yong-chul, who was a presidential monitor against corruption at the time. This is the latest allegation against Samsung, which was recently accused of running 'a vast network of bribery through the government, the judiciary branch and the news media' that reaches all the way to South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun."
Who's going to pay me not to criticise them in my comment?
Geez, handing a politician an actual suitcase full of cash went out with Huey Long. The smart companies figured out long ago that there were much better, technically legal, ways to bribe their politicians.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I've spent enough time there to know that token respect bribes are just a part of how business gets done. I'm sure most of the large corporations are doing the same, it just seems Samsung slipped up and got caught.
That it was $5,000 worth of old Samsung CRTs.
It may seem stupid or risky but if you're going to keep a bribe net and ignore the one assigned to check it, you're bound to fail.
I think the whole problem started with the $5,445 mistake. Everyone has a price, if you can't or simply don't want to afford it, don't try with a smaller amount.
...also known as Washington lobbyists in the United States.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
This is unheard of. We must stop samsung before this sort of behavior spreads and becomes endemic to countries in the region.
it's somehow amazing how stupid some people can be, and doubly so when you look at companies, where there really should be some checks and balances in place.
but come on... a ~$5000 bribe? if you want to bribe me, you'd better cough up more than that
but seriously, What would samsung write that off as when the auditor came to visit? (or more likely would they just bribe the auditor as well)
I will not give in to the terrorists. I will not become fearful.
That's not "irony". That's evidence that Samsung was also bribing or otherwise corrupting the government that Lee was paid not to monitor.
Even Alanis Morissette knows that bribing a cop to freely rob a house isn't "ironic".
--
make install -not war
I didn't know you could buy off such a major official for only $5500. "Oh, sure, I'll risk public shame and losing all my influence in exchange for a week's pay."
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
no wonder my Samsung cell keep dialing 911 inadvertently...
Can you even start to imagine what would happen if there was any of this in western countries?
bribes? in this century of enlightenment?
say it ain't so!!
Northeast Asia (eh, for what's worth), you numbskull. Besides, neighbours (Japan, China, Russia, Mongolia) are all covered already.
Sandisk != Samsung
...the market will work it out
I grew up a bit naive, believing my country is different from others in terms of corruption, with all our checks and balances and just our culture. In other countries where corruption runs high, people just accept it as a way of life. But now I am reading all about corruption in my country and it just made me realize that our form corruption is most dangerous. Corruption hides behind all these wack laws and loopholes so alot of times we won't/can't recognize it as corruption, while other poor countries - tho they are off worse - know full well what it is.
You see, those countries' peoples will have a chance to fight because they know what it is. Depends on how bad they're willing to shed blood. THat's why their "leaders" rule with an iron hand. They're AFRAID OF THE PEOPLE. US, on the other hand - we don't even have the will to fight. We're too comfortable. Corruption THRIVES on this. Corruption doesn't have to rule with an iron hand. They know the sheep are fat and lazy.
We've all taken the red pill.
No lie, that's what they told me to do. A real shame, because I really like the MP3 player. In fact, I'm still considering getting the "Sansa Shakers" for my kids.
I expected a better punchline from a comedian.
Seriously, I think it's refreshing that they basically came out and said "Our unit can not suit your needs, you should look elsewhere" instead of giving you the common businessman runaround.
The guys at tech support doubtlessly have no control over what platforms are supported in conjunction with whatever hardware they manufacture. I don't know what you do for a living but it really sucks to have people who are not in the position to help you with your support problems try to give you some song and dance about something that they have no real control over. Keeping an end user (or customer in this case) in the lurch thinking that they're going to get gratification someday is a really bad thing to do. It creates ill will between both parties and the problem still exists at the end of the day. Maybe their being honest about their inability to support Linux should be a sign that they're wanting to do business honestly but simple don't support Linux for whatever number of reasons.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I stand corrected....or, to quote Rosanne Rosanadana, "...nevermind..."
A goal is a dream with a deadline
This is another one of those slashdot moments that could easily be fixed with a bit of that pesky "editing" that the editors around here seem to loathe. Nearly every comment I'm reading talks about how the government official was corrupt, but a simple read of the article shows that he in fact REFUSED the bribe. There is no hypocrisy there--he is in charge of monitoring bribery in the government, Samsung attempted to bribe him, he refused it and is now using their attempt in a government case against Samsung. That is EXACTLY what he's supposed to be doing!
This guy's the limit!
First off, you make a valid point, but let me speak to this statement.
"I expected a better punchline from a comedian"
Comedians, do actually have the ability to speak seriously on a subject. I'm not busting on you, it's just an observation. This one particular vocation seems to draw that kind of attitude. People seem to think that we are "on" all the time. Honestly, thank goodness I'm not, that would just be annoying wouldn't it? When I'm not on stage, I'm actually a pretty quiet, to myself person. A lot of people who know me are somewhat surprised by my stage persona. It is also my understanding that a lot of comics are similar to me.
This is exactly why I don't exactly share this with a lot of people. I mean "StressGuy" is relatively anonymous but the last thing I need is people constantly asking me to "tell them a joke". Truth is, I don't know a lot of jokes, which is pretty much like everybody else.
I did have that happen to me once during a large corporate meeting, however. My response was to tell them the absolute lamest, horrible joke I could think of and then threaten to tell them another one if they ever asked me again. The joke did not get a laugh (as expected), but the follow-up comment did.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
I have, and I'm continuing to monitor it, but I don't want to "brick" my MP3 player.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Sure sounds a lot more impressive as 5 MILLION won.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
wha...what? corporate bribery of government officials? oh, that's nice. ::goes back to sleep::
You are right. South Korea being in South East Asia is unheard of. Here is the map of Asia. South Korea is in the east despite the south in South Korea.
Please someone with mod point mod the parent as insightful!
"Ironically, the official was Lee Yong-chul, who was a presidential monitor against corruption at the time."
It is not ironic. Maybe funny, but not ironic. It would have been ironic, if the official would have accepted the bribe.
"The politicians have to pretend to be outraged every so often, but the entire economy is predicated on passing bribes. "
Bingo! Absolutely correct.
This is why the amount was so small, and why a relative functionary was the bribee. Simply a token bust to keep the press off their digital asses.
I worked for Samsung Electronics in Suwon from 1999 to 2003. There was a big bribery dust up in 2001 that led to yet another internal campaign designed to educate employees, etc. As a high-profile foreigner, working as a liaison between OEMs and R & D, I was constantly reminded to avoid taking, giving, etc.
My reply was always the same... "Are you kidding? An OEM wants to buy me off, here I am!" And not once did anyone ever offer to buy me a new car, house or gf. What's a loyal, hardworking guy supposed to do?
But Sansa is made by Sandisk, a Samsung competitor.
29 mpg. YMMV.
I read in Time magazine (yes, the near-leftist weekly reminder of recent pop history) that "Americans purchase 7600 Samsung LCDs per day". I'm guessing that is both TVs and monitors. Still...per day. I think in the most profitable stage of my burgeoning sales career, I only sold 15 cups of lemonade in one day. Perhaps if I'd bribed local officials....
And everybody has one...
You better offer enough to pay for my Great,Great,Great,Great,Great,Great,Great,Great Grand kids college fund and for housing for all of them also.
I figure $500 Billion US dollars worth of gold and ammo should be a good starting point...
-- I am the NRA, enough said...
Only $5k?! Why, I'd never sell out my principles for less than.. well, $10k at least!
What was once true, is no longer so
As a frequent listener to the program (are you?) Focus on the Family is non-political. Focus is a charitable organization which is set up in such a way that contributions are tax-deductible. Due to rules governing this type of enterprise, they are prohibited from endorsing candidates.
There is another organization called "Focus on the Family Action" which is a political action group. Contributions to that organization are *not* tax deductible, and they can be used for overt political purposes. If you hear an explicitly political message on the broadcast, rest assured that Focus on the Family Action paid Focus on the Family for the broadcast time.
Focus on the Family, while non-political, does talk about issues on which public policy are based. It's one thing to say "we want our society to do such-and-such."
It's another to say "Senator So-and-so should be opposed because" or "Please contact your representative to tell them to vote against proposal whatever"
Focus on the Family Action takes political stands.
Focus on the Family expresses views about how individuals should make choices about how to live, and also offers commentary on what society as a whole should do. Is that bribery? Sounds like an informed populous to me....
But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
Eh, whoever said the names of areas where geographically correct? SE Asia usually includes Japan, and the Middle East isn't exactly very far to the East is it?
SE asia includes japan. That's one of the dumbest things I've ever read on slashdot.
Seriously how could they be so cheap. 5k??? Thats only one night at the hostess bar.
Dumb brits. I believe your ilk call your sort numpties.
Ironically, the official was Lee Yong-chul, who was a presidential monitor against corruption at the time.
Doesn't seem "ironic" to me, it seems rational. I mean, who better to bribe than him?
As early as 60s in Korea, Govn't have been helping chaebols http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaebol/ in the effort to push industrialization. This is not news and oftentimes government officials were found laundrying billions of korean won making laws in favor of giants or chaebols in Korea. in korea samsung has its own nicknames like "samsung empire", "republic of samsung". just like microsoft has been often favored by the court and govn't, samsung will remain bully for sometime until there are like 10 another samsung-like-giants in Korea. what do samsung do? electronics, heavy industries, weapons, entertainment....investing in samsung stock is like investing in index fund of some country...it's madness!
I wonder if this is related to the msoft and patents thing vs Linux...
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=363431&cid=21385189
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/16/2146233
I'd hate to be guessing correctly about this.
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Only peripherally relevant, but any chance to post links to the amazing Y0UNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES.
http://yhchang.com/SAMSUNG_ENGLISH.html
http://yhchang.com/SAMSUNG_MEANS_TO_COME.html
http://yhchang.com/
In the middle east and North Africa, the practice of baksheesh is standard. It's considered to be a tip or a thank you and there's nothing at all wrong with it. It's how things get done. In Africa it's even grander where the officials tell you what to pay them.
We don't give gifts in holland, just seats on the board of directors. Check out what all the politicians are doing after they retire and then look back at some of the decisions they made just before retiring.
Ever wondered why that building corruption scandal was so poorly dealt with? Just wait for the people involved to reach retirement age. You will get your answer.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If God did not want them to be sheared, He would not have made them sheep.
i keep my cash 'crispy and fresh' by wrapping it in $10,000 stacks wrapped in tin foil and kept in the freezer!
regards,
Rep. William "J. for 'Just keep it crispy'" Jefferson
if people want to contribute to campaigns , let them contribute their time
afaic, our only salvation is if campaign contributions are made illegal
"Samsung caught" implies more than just an allegation.
Geography lesson. South Korea isn't generally considered part of South East Asia. Some countries in South East Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia.
But your point is valid. Except for Singapore, nearly every country in SE Asia suffers from major corruption.
Shouldnt people be angrier at the officials accepting bribes?
Kind of explains how the Japanese and Chinese managed to overcome the United States trade barriers so easily. A few backroom deals and Voila! ... free trade. If you're a foreign corporation that doesn't want to deal with tariffs or import duties when shipping products for sale in the U.S., a few well-placed bribes^H^H^H^H^H^Hcontributions can work wonders.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
That's an insignificant amount of money for a politician, isn't it? I'm not surprised Samsung was caught with that.
I thought South Korea was a "developed" nation? At least, I'd expect bribery on a much smaller or trivial scale unlike what they face in countries like India or China. This is quite interesting.
Physical proximity does not mean that you have facts.
Please list explicit examples of Dobson and his team doing unethical things. I challenge you on this point, because I don't believe you can do it.
There is no question that Focus on the Family has an agenda. Their agenda is social rather than political, and they have gone to great lengths and great expense to separate political activities from social activities.
Love him or hate him, James Dobson is a man who lives and dies by his integrity to his beliefs. I'd be stunned to see him involved in a scandal involving a compromise of his beliefs. Don't you think that if anyone had dirt on him it would be made public by those who oppose him?
Focus on the Family was created by James Dobson because his religious views lead him to want to help marriage and families be stronger and healthier as defined by his Christian worldview. He is not pretending to be about anything.
If you can *prove* your allegations, which I assert are libelous, please post facts. Otherwise you're simply repeating nonsense you've heard through channels which have little connection to the truth.
But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?