Reuters, Seoul

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee told a Seoul court on Wednesday he would “make a new Samsung” in the final hearing of a trial that will decide whether he returns to jail for alleged bribery.

The heir of one of South Korea’s most powerful families was convicted of bribing an associate of former President Park Geun-hye and jailed for five years in 2017.

That sentence was reduced and suspended on appeal and he served just one year in jail before being freed in 2018.

A subsequent Supreme Court ruling sent the matter back to the Seoul High Court, which must now decide on a new sentence. The decision is scheduled for Jan. 18.

“Samsung has been running without looking back but I missed something vital. Although it became Korea’s leading company, the importance of its social role, responsibility and public trust was overlooked,” Lee said reading a statement in court, dressed in a dark suit and grey tie.

“Now Samsung will be different. I’ll be the first to change... No matter what happens, I will never do anything to pursue my personal interests. I will raise the value of the company and focus on social contributions, fix what the court has pointed out as the harms of chaebol,” he said.

South Korea’s big family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, are credited with helping raise the country out of poverty following the Korean War but have been criticised for wielding too much power preserved in part through elaborate internal cross-shareholdings.

Lee shed tears when talking about the memory of his deceased father, saying he wanted to do his filial duty by making “a new Samsung” that is sustainable and has “a thorough compliance system that can resist undue outside pressure”.

While not the only legal challenge Lee is dealing with - he is also on trial for alleged fraud and stock price manipulation - the bribery case is the biggest immediate threat to his leadership of Samsung Electronics.