Samsung heir vows to improve corporate culture for working mothers

SEOUL, Aug. 6 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, the de facto leader of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, vowed Thursday to improve the corporate system for working mothers amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Lee said Samsung should review its corporate culture as the COVID-19 pandemic forced closures or reduced operations of day care centers and schools nationwide, which burdens female workers raising children.

"We must fix what is wrong and insufficient," Lee said in a meeting with a group of female employees who work while rearing children at Samsung Electronics Co.'s campus in Suwon, south of Seoul.

"We should make a corporate culture that allows qualified female talent to become leaders and serve as role models."

As of 2019, women accounted for a 40.2 percent of Samsung Electronics employees. The portion of female executives increased from 0.76 percent in 2009 to 6.53 percent in 2019, according to the company.

kdon@yna.co.kr
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