Samsung Electronics Chairman Apologizes Amid Growing Strike Threat

Lee Jae-yong, the chairman of Samsung Electronics, apologized Saturday over internal tensions at the company, saying the situation had caused concern among customers worldwide.

“I sincerely apologize to our global customers for causing anxiety and damaging trust because of problems within the company,” Lee told reporters after returning to Seoul from a business trip to Japan.

Speaking at Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center, Lee added that“everyone at Samsung is one team” and said employees should“bring their wisdom together and move in the same direction.”

The dispute centers on performance-based pay.

The union is demanding that Samsung allocate a fixed 15 percent of operating profit to bonuses and remove the current cap on payouts.

Samsung has rejected a fixed formula, saying it wants to keep the existing system while allowing uncapped special rewards when needed.

With neither side backing down, negotiations have remained deadlocked.

The union plans to strike from Thursday through June 7 and says as many as 50,000 members could take part.

A walkout of that scale would be closely watched across the semiconductor industry, where even brief disruptions can affect production schedules and customer commitments.

Some industry observers have warned that direct and indirect losses could reach 100 trillion won ($66.76 billion) if the strike disrupts Samsung's chip operations.

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