Samsung Electronics expressed regret over the Fair Trade Commission's sanctions against Samsung Welstory and announced its intention to restore its reputation through administrative litigation.

The Fair Trade Commission (Chairman Cho Sung-wook) announced on the 24th that it had decided to impose a total of 234.9 billion won in fines on Samsung Electronics and four other companies and Samsung Welstory for effectively giving 100% of the company meal volume to Samsung Welstory, a company owned by Lee Jae-yong's family, under the intervention of the Future Strategy Office and setting up a contract structure to guarantee high profit rates, and to file a complaint against Samsung Electronics and former Future Strategy Office head Choi Gee-sung.

Regarding this, Samsung Electronics said it regrets that its management activities for the welfare of its employees have been misled into thinking they are unfair support, and that the facts and legal judgments in the press release are one-sided and difficult to understand because they do not properly reflect the contents deliberated at the general meeting.

In addition, he mentioned that there are concerns that the decision to indict did not include or contained different content from the decision to indict, such as the fact that Wellstory contributed to the merger process as a key cash cow, which could lead to misunderstandings in public opinion and lead to prejudice in the future prosecution investigation and court trial.

A Samsung Electronics official claimed that there were no instructions for unfair support, and that what management said at the time was to "provide the best meals, improve the quality of meals, and ensure that there are no employee complaints," and that the company has been doing its best to provide quality meals.

In addition, he said that if he receives the resolution of the general meeting, he will review the contents and file an administrative lawsuit, and that he will prove that it is a normal transaction through legal procedures in the future, and that although the consent resolution was not accepted, he will continue to expand the ongoing meal service opening.

Along with this, leaving aside right and wrong, He expressed his regret for any inconvenience this incident may have caused to the public and employees, and said he would take special care to ensure that such misunderstandings do not occur again by examining the relevant systems more closely in the future.