hankyoreh

The letter sent by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s digital minister, to Han Jong-hee, the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics. (from Fedorov’s Twitter page)

While US companies like Apple and Tesla are denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by halting exports to or services in Russia and expressing their intent to support Ukraine, large corporations in South Korea seem hesitant to join their ranks. In particular, corporations like Samsung Electronics have been put in an awkward position due to the Ukrainian government’s pointed and public request that they stop exports to and services in Russia as a means of pressuring Putin.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and minister of digital transformation, tweeted on Mar. 4 that he’d sent a letter to Han Jong-hee, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, asking the company to halt exports of its products to Russia.

“While governors all over the world are repelling the aggressor through the imposition of sanctions, business-leaders, companies, and organizations are dramatically helping us with a word and action, clearly recognizing which values we are fighting for. There is no single solution that will stop the aggressor, but the joint effort together will help to slow it down,” Fedorov wrote in the letter, which he appended to the tweet.

“I do believe that you care about world’s peace and will never support bloody authoritarian aggression,” Fedorov said in the letter before asking Samsung to provisionally suspend products and services through Samsung Pay and the Samsung Galaxy Store.

“I urge you to take a step towards world peace! As long as Russian tanks and missiles bomb kindergartens and hospitals in Ukraine, your cool equipment cannot be used by Russians!” he wrote in the tweet.

Reports indicate that Fedorov has previously sent letters to Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX; and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, asking them to provide Ukraine with assistance and suspend services to Russia.

Samsung Electronics responded to Fedorov’s request by announcing on Sunday that it had stopped shipping products to Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

“That decision was based on the poor logistics situation on the ground and the exchange rate risk associated with the depreciation of the ruble,” a source at Samsung said in a phone call with the Hankyoreh.

“As for Ukraine, we intend to provide humanitarian aid to refugees in partnership with international organizations. We have already agreed to donate US$6 million (including US$1 million worth of electronic appliances) to the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, and we also plan to encourage staff and management to make additional donations of their own,” Samsung said.

There appears to be dismay inside Samsung over demands for the company to issue an official statement about the Russia-Ukraine War.

“Using phrases like ‘halting exports’ or ‘halting sales’ in the present situation would create many more issues we would have to consider. ‘Halting shipping’ seems to be the appropriate phrase,” another source at Samsung Electronics said over the phone.

The comment suggests how carefully Samsung is weighing its language and terminology.

Other Korean conglomerates are exhibiting a similar attitude.

When an executive at a major exporter was asked about the company’s position on the South Korean government’s announcement that it and the US had reached a decision to exclude ordinary consumer goods — such as automobiles, smartphones and washing machines — from the export embargo on Russia, the executive asked reporters to refer to them as an “industry source” and to only say the company is “keeping a close eye on things.”

“In the current situation, we can’t afford to take a step in either direction,” the executive explained.

“Global companies in Korea are more worried about Chinese consumers than Russia,” said a source at an export-oriented conglomerate who asked to remain anonymous.

“The conglomerates are paying close attention to reports indicating that several Chinese intellectuals who condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on online message boards ended up deleting their posts after getting dogpiled by netizens. They’ve taken note of the fact that Chinese consumers are viewing Russian actions favorably,” the source said

“Whenever we get a request for comment from the press, we ask journalists to not mention the company name under any circumstances or simply refuse to comment at all,” said a mid-level manager at another export-oriented conglomerate.

By Kim Jae-seob, staff reporter

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