Convicted criminal returns to job

Lee Kun-hee resigned or otherwise left (see below) his position as Chairman of Samsung and soon afterward went to jail as a result of his actions while running Samsung.  In a move fairly typical Korean justice with chaebol leaders, he was soon pardoned (the surprising thing is that he spent any time in jail at all).

He was released in February and will soon return to work in the same position at the same company that he broke the law in previously. Part of the reason for his pardon was his previous work on the International Olympics Committee.

He’d better bring the Olympics to Korea!

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Different papers describe the way he left Samsung (my bolding):

Korea Times:  Lee Kun-hee, 68, will rejoin Samsung Electronics as its chairman, two years after resigning from the group chairman’s post at the country’s largest conglomerate during a criminal investigation into the illegal transfer of corporate wealth to his family members.

Joongang: Lee’s return comes nearly two years after he voluntarily stepped down as the group’s chairman amid charges of tax evasion and illegal bond transactions.

Yonhap:  The 68-year-old Lee, who was forced to step down as chief of Samsung Group in April 2008 following his indictment in a tax evasion and breach of trust case, had been widely expected to return to Samsung’s management after the government pardoned him at the end of last year.