Immediately after receiving a presidential pardon that cleared his conviction for tax evasion in 2009, Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of Samsung, led South Korea in a successful bid to host the Winter Olympics.
In what looks like fortuitous timing, an appeals court on Monday halved the five-year corruption sentence of Mr Lee’s son, Lee Jae-yong, and suspended it for four years, allowing him to walk free in time for the opening of the Pyeongchang Olympics on Friday.
South Korean politicians from both parties, as well as ordinary citizens, have reacted with outrage. Since the country emerged from the devastation of the Korean war, its economy has been dominated by family-run conglomerates known as chaebol.
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