GIMPO -- Samsung Electronics heir and Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Wednesday returned from a weeklong trip to China and Japan after meeting the company’s major business partners there.

In response to a question on what had been the major achievements of the latest trip, Lee told The Korea Herald that he would elaborate more later on.

(Shot by Song Su-hyun/Edited by Lim Jeong-yeo)



Lee met with chairmen and top officials of Japan’s mobile carriers KDDI and NTT Docomo in Tokyo earlier this week as part of their annual meetings. Their yearly meetings had resumed as the vice chairman had been released from prison in February after serving a jail term.

In China, Lee held meetings with major Chinese clients including, electric vehicle maker BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu, Huawei Chairman Ren Zhengfei, Xiaomi Chairman Lei Jun and BBK CEO Shen Wei, as part of his survey of latest IT trends and to find new business opportunities.

Although Samsung bought a roughly 2 percent stake in BYD in 2016, not much cooperation has happened since then.

With the return of its heir back to the management forefront, Samsung would likely want to start new businesses with those partners, such as supplying automotive chips and sensors for BYD.

Back home, Lee is expected to mull new growth factors for Samsung and focus on management, according to Samsung officials.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)