The Seoul High Court handed down a retrial of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-rong's bribery case on Monday afternoon, and sentenced Lee Jae-rong to 2 years and 6 months in prison.

In the previous trial, the South Korean prosecution asked the court to sentence Lee Jae-rong to 9 years in prison. During the retrial, the independent prosecution team and Lee Jae-rong debated on how to evaluate the Samsung Law-abiding Surveillance Committee on the issue of sentencing. Whether Lee Jae-rong was finally sentenced to prison or suspended has attracted much attention.

Lee Jae-rong was prosecuted in February 2017 for allegedly entrusting then-President Park Geun-hye and her close friend Choi Seo-won (voice, former name Choi Sun-si) to help her inherit management rights and provide 29.8 billion won (about 175 million yuan) in bribes. The court of first instance found part of Lee Jae-rong's bribery charges and sentenced him to 5 years in prison, while the court of second instance handed down a sentence of 2 and a half years in fixed-term prison and suspended for 4 years. In August 2019, the Supreme Court (Supreme Court) quashed the judgment of the court of second instance against Lee Jae-rong and others involved in the case, Park Geun-hye and Choi Sun-si in a final judgment, and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court for retrial.