Samsung Electronics has officially denied allegations that lawyer Lee Won-jo, the husband of Park Young-sun, the nominee for minister of SMEs and startups, took Samsung lawsuits.
In text messages sent to reporters on April 4, Samsung Electronics said that Samsung had delegated patent suits to the law firm DLA Piper long before Lawyer Lee joined the law firm, expressing its position regarding Park's husband's alleged acceptance of Samsung lawsuits.
"Samsung Electronics' legal delegation or performance was conducted directly with the U.S. headquarters of DLA Piper," Samsung Electronics said. "In the process, Lawyer Lee or the office where the lawyer belongs (Tokyo, Seoul) has never been involved."
Park's husband has only worked at the law firm's Tokyo and Seoul offices, and has nothing to do with the U.S. headquarters of the law firm that took charge of the Samsung Electronics suits.
The controversy erupted when Rep. Lee Jong-bae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party raised suspicions that Park's husband, Lee, took a legal fee from Samsung. The lawmaker claimed that the lawyer took 13 Samsung Electronics-related lawsuits conducted in the U.S. between 2008 and 2018 to collect tens of billions of won in legal fees.
In response, Park criticized Rep Lee on her Facebook page shortly after the Samsung's announcement, saying, "It is proving how absurdly false information his assertion is."
