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Chairman Lee receives Van Fleet award and holds strategy meeting in New York

The Korea Society presented the Van Fleet Award to Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee for his contribution to understanding and cooperation on Korea-U.S. relations at a dinner in his honor held at Hotel Pierre in downtown Manhattan, New York Sept. 19.
The award is named after the late Gen. James A. Van Fleet, former U.S. Eighth Army commander during the Korea War, in 1992 and the late general also set up the society.
In 2000, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter won the award followed by Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon in 2004 and former U.S. president George H.W. Bush in 2005.
The society's chairman Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to Korea, said the Samsung chairman helped his group to make investments in the United States and localized its operation in the U.S., while providing support to education, culture, and charity works to boost trust and tie between Korea and the U.S., explaining the society's award to the chairman.
Chairman Lee said he would assume that the award means an encouragement that he should work harder for the two countries'solid relations.
Present at the dinner included former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Chris Hill, U.S. representative for the Six Party Talks, Richard Smith, chairman of Newsweek, Ted Turner, founder of CNN, and Dan Rather, former CBS anchor, and many executives of U.s. firms which have relations with Samsung, like Sprint, and Best
Buy Circuit City, among others, with participants totaling 600 at the event.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Albright said both the U.S., and North Korea should be flexible enough to reopen the six party talks, adding that hardline policies of President Bush set back the talks.
Also present at the event were the chairman's son Jae-yong and Mrs. Lee Kun-hee and a number of Samsung executives including Vice Chairman Yun Jong-yong of Samsung Electronics, President Kim In-joo, and Vice Chairman Lee Hak-soo of the Samsung Strategy Planning Office.
Samsung is already among leaders in the domestic market and has no body to benchmark its management, except to create its own to sustain its leading position, the chairman emphasized. The top Samsung executive has been trying to set the direction for major policies of the group for its second take-off in the next 10 years.
At the meeting of 13 Samsung affiliate presidents held in June in Seoul, Chairman Lee made a similar statement that creative management is needed so that they examine every thing from the beginning to find new ideas because the past practices and copying from others would not help bring independence for the group.
Lee continued that in order to be a top-class product maker, it has to have its products recognized by top-class customers. He named a number of Samsung products as such products including Wibro, 40 nano 32 giga nandflash, the technology that produced those products Charge Trap Flash, and Bordeau TV, which swept world TV market, calling them products of the creative management.
The top Samsung executive went on to stress that the recruitment of top talents and training, and daring R&D activities are needed to develop top quality products.
Present at the strategy meeting were a number of key executives, including Vice Chairman Lee Hak-soo, Vice Chairman Yun Jong-yong, President Lee Ki-tae, and President Hwang Chang-kyu. Samsung officials said they will change their management strategies in the direction of what the chairman said and start recruiting top talented personnel and build new management systems
The New York meeting follows the Milano meeting held in April, last year, the Vietnam meeting in July, 2005 and electronic affiliate CEO meeting in March this year. nw

(photos from clockwise) Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee receives the Van fleet Award from Korea Society Chairman Donald Gregg at a ceremony held at Hotel Pierre in New York.; Chairman Lee shakes hands with workers at site of the Burj Dubai in the UAE.; Chairman Lee holds a uniform of the Chelsea Football Club with Roman Abramovich, owner of the club who is Russian at the club's office in London. The Burj Dubai. being built by Samsung E&C will be the tallest skyscraper in the world when completed.