Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee resigns from International Olympic Committee

Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee has rescinded his membership in the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC's Executive Board announced Friday that Lee's family has asked the IOC "not to consider Mr. Lee for re-election as an IOC member."

The 75-year-old has been an IOC member since 1996. But he has remained hospitalized since May 2014 when he suffered a heart attack.

Lee's resignation leaves South Korea with one IOC member, Ryu Seung-min. The former Olympic table tennis champion was elected to the IOC's Athletes Commission last year. 

Members of the commission enjoy the same rights as other IOC members, but they serve one eight-year term. IOC members are also elected for eight years and their mandates can be renewed.

Lee has served on two IOC commissions -- Cultural in 1997 and Finance from 1998 to 1999. In 1991, he received the Olympic Order, awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement.

Lee voluntarily gave up his IOC rights in 2008 after being indicted in a financial and tax evasion case. The government pardoned him in 2009, and the IOC reinstated him in February 2010.

The IOC then gave Lee a public reprimand and banned him from serving on any commissions for five years.

(Yonhap)