Hong Ra-hee, the director of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, in Seoul, resigned citing personal reasons, Art Asia Pacific reports. She also resigned from her position as director of the Ho-Am Art Museum, a private art museum in Yongin that houses the private collection of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul.
An influential figure of the Korean artworld, Hong has been director of Leeum since its opening in 2004. Her resignation has been linked in the Korean media to the indictment of her son, Lee Jae-yong, the acting head of Samsung Group, on bribery and embezzlement charges. Hong had already resigned from her post back in 2008, when her husband, Lee Kun-hee, the chairman of the Samsung Group, was charged with tax evasion, but returned as director in 2011 after the scandal abated.
7 March 2017
