Samsung chairman now able to sit in wheelchair: sources

Lee Kun-hee, the de facto head of Samsung Group who has been hospitalized since May after suffering a heart attack, has reportedly recovered enough to be able to sit in a wheelchair, business sources said Wednesday.

Lee is now able to move a short distance seated in a wheelchair, according to the sources. The last official comment from Samsung on Lee’s condition had been in June when the company said he was awake for seven to eight hours a day.

“All we can say is that the chairman is recovering,” a Seoul-based Samsung Group communications official said, adding she cannot confirm or deny the rumors surrounding Lee’s condition.

Lee Jun, Samsung’s chief of communications, told reporters the doctors were expecting the elderly Lee’s continued recovery but likewise declined to comment directly on speculations.

Samsung has been repeating that Lee’s health has improved, without giving away many details, saying such information was private and any detailed explanation may cause misunderstandings.

Lee, chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., the business group’s mainstay unit, was rushed to a hospital near his home in Seoul on May 10 after experiencing difficulty breathing. He was transferred to Samsung Medical Center the next morning, where he underwent a procedure to widen his blood vessels.

The 72-year-old tycoon was put on hypothermia treatment until the end of May. Doctors said the treatment was based on Lee’s age and medical history, which includes lung surgery in the late 1990s and respiratory complications since then.

Since then, Lee has been said to be slowly recovering, according to Samsung executives.

In late August, Lee Jun, Samsung’s chief communications officer, officially proclaimed that the chairman’s health had “improved in many ways.”

He was reportedly able to shift his eyes at the time, and communicate on some level.

Lee had also said the doctors at Samsung Medical Center where Lee was being treated believed there would be further recovery in the future.

(From news reports)