Lee Myung-hee

For the volleyball player, see Lee Meong-hee.

Lee Myung-hee
Lee in 2016
Born	(1944-09-05) 5 September 1944 Uiryeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do
Nationality	South Korean
Alma mater	Ewha Womans University
Occupation	Chairman of Shinsegae Group
Spouse	Chung Jae-eun
Children	2 including Chung Yong-jin
Parent(s)	Lee Byung-chul Park Du-eul
Korean name
Hangul	이명희
Hanja	李明熙
Revised Romanization	Lee Myeonghui
McCune–Reischauer	I Myŏnghŭi

Lee Myung-hee (Korean: 이명희; born 5 September 1944) is a South Korean business magnate and the chairwoman of the Shinsegae Group. She is youngest daughter of Lee Byung-chul, founder of the Samsung Group and the sister of its current chairman Lee Kun-Hee. Lee became the company's chairwoman in 1997 following its separation from Samsung and is credited for growing it into the country's second-largest retailer. With an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion she is one of the wealthiest people in South Korea and was ranked 20th on Forbes 2017 list of 50 Richest Koreans.

Biography

Lee was born in Uiryeong County to Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul and his first wife Park Du-eul as the youngest of eight children. She attended Ewha Girls' High School and then majored in art at Ewha Womans University before marrying. After ten years of being a homemaker she became a sales executive at Shinsegae Department Store in 1979 and then its Chairwoman in 1997 after the company was separated from Samsung.

Financial scandals

During her time as chairwoman Lee has been fined on three separate occasions. The first was in 2006 for 350 billion won ($300 million) after she hid 800 billion wons worth of stock under different names. In 2012 by the Fair Trade Commission fined Lee 4 billion won ($3.4 million) for charging different transaction fees. Then in 2015 she was fined 70 billion won for hiding 380,000 company shares worth 80 billion won ($68 million) under different names.