故 이건희 회장 장례 사흘째...정치•경제•예술•체육 각계 조문 행렬<br /><br />Mourning continues for the late chairman of South Korea's Samsung Group, Lee Kun-hee, who died on Sunday at the age of 78 after suffering from a long illness.<br />Influential figures from various sectors came to pay their respects on the third day of his funeral.<br />Kim Jae-hee has more.<br />Major players from business, politics and sport visited Samsung Medical Center in Southern Seoul on Tuesday to pay their respects to the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee.<br />LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-yeol, and Hyundai Card CEO Chung Tae-young all visited the funeral hall on Tuesday morning.<br />"He was a great businessman who developed the nation's high-tech industry."<br />South Korea’s Minister of SMEs and Startups, Park Young-sun visited in the afternoon, and said Lee made an insightful choice thirty years ago to make semiconductors a driving source of South Korea’s economy.<br />Well-known sporting figures, including the Head of the South Korean Olympic committee, Lee Kee-heung, also showed up to pay their respects to Lee, who had previously served as president of the Korea Wrestling Federation and was a member of the International Olympic Committee.<br />Violinist Chung Kyung-wha and pianist Cho Seong-jin also visited the hospital, as did the Hungarian, German and Vietnamese ambassadors to South Korea.<br />Following the wishes of Lee and his family, the funeral is being kept small, and the number of visitors is being limited amid the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />The four-day funeral will end with Lee's burial on Wednesday.<br />His body is likely to be put to rest in either Yongin, where the graves of his parents are, or Suwon, where his ancestors are buried.<br />With Lee Kun-hee's death, focus turns to the succession of his son, Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who's been heading the company's management since 2014, when his father collapsed from a heart attack.<br />Investors are speculating over when Lee Jae-yong will officially take the chief position, and are closely watching the issue of inheritance.<br />Lee Kun-hee was the wealthiest stock owner in the country, with around 16 billion U.S. dollars of shares.<br />It would cost a record high inheritance tax of about nine billion dollars to inherit all his assets.<br />Industry watchers suspect Samsung could announce measures to increase shareholders' dividend payouts to pay the inheritance tax.<br />Samsung shares rose on Monday under hopes of higher dividends and long-awaited restructuring but several shares fell again slightly on Tuesday.<br />Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.<br />
