Samsung boss regains consciousness after 2 weeks

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee has regained consciousness after over two weeks following an emergency surgery after a heart attack, a Samsung Group spokesman disclosed on Monday.

The spokesman said that Lee, 72, was awakened from an artificially induced deep sleep on Sunday.

“He is responding to outside stimuli,” the spokesman said, without going into further details.

It was not disclosed whether Lee was able to talk, although he had been kept anaesthetised with tranquilisers for the past two weeks.

Lee underwent emergency surgery after a heart attack on 10 May. Doctors first had to carry out immediate life-support measures before he could be taken to Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.

Lee is one of the most powerful business leaders of South Korea and one of the wealthiest people in the world.

It added that under his stewardship, Samsung Electronics has become the flagship of the Samsung Group and the world’s largest producer of memory chips.

However, Samsung is today the largest maker of mobile phones and television sets in the world.

He stepped down as Samsung Group Chief in April 2008, in the wake of a tax fraud scandal.

Two years later, he was appointed chairman of Samsung Electronics.