By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter

President Roh Moo-hyun Tuesday chided Samsung Group for its challenge of the government’s effort to keep conglomerates from using financial units as leverage for further expansion.
``I think there is a problem with Samsung’s attitude on this issue,’’ Roh said in a luncheon meeting with business editors from Seoul-based newspapers and broadcasters at Chong Wa Dae.

At stake was a draft bill requiring a financial unit of a conglomerate to get approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) before acquiring a 5 percent or more stake in a non-financial subsidiary to gain control of it. Roh’s remarks were a public show of disapproval over Samsung’s resistance to this requirement.

The bill that was submitted to the National Assembly in July, however, was watered down and includes a provision allowing Samsung to be exempted from the requirement.

Samsung’s unit Samsung Life Insurance holds a 7.2 percent stake in Samsung Electronics. Samsung alleges that it does not need approval as it acquired the stake before the 5-percent rule. The exception clause in the bill provides legal ground for Samsung to do away with regulatory approval.

This triggered an outcry from civic groups for what they see as the government’s preferential treatment of Samsung.

Chong Wa Dae said that the presidential office began a probe into the case last month at the instruction of the president to examine how the bill had its teeth removed.

``It ran against public sentiment about chaebol and put the government in an awkward situation,’’ Roh said during yesterday’s luncheon.

He added Samsung should have come in line with the government move, even if it did not fully agree with the regulatory measures. ``Even if chaebol doesn’t agree with regulations separating industrial from financial capital, they should respect and accommodate that rule, when it reaches a social consensus, and try to have their management and corporate governance meet it to the best of their ability,’’ he said.

But the president added a qualifier that a ``wise solution’’ could be found so the spirit of the laws could be kept while at the same time the public concerns over chaebol could be dispelled and Samsung could also save face and avoid merger and acquisition.

Roh also said his administration would develop follow-up measures to bolster its Aug. 31 real estate anti-speculative measures aimed at curbing speculative investment in real estate.

On politics, he said the most difficult problem facing the nation is a ``leadership crisis,’’ in which politics often fail to coordinate and integrate various social and economic discords.

He said the problem stems from a lack of moral confidence to make key decisions on major social issues at a time when power is rapidly being decentralized.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr