Everyone loves a good perp walk. For South Koreans, Lee Jay-hyun's made great theater.
The sight of Lee — chairman of the conglomerate CJ Group and grandson of Samsung's legendary founder — being led away by police last week on embezzlement and tax-evasion charges has been portrayed as an early victory for President Park Geun-hye's five-month-old government. The arrest supposedly shows that Park is serious about reining in the chaebol — family-owned behemoths that continue to dominate Asia's fourth-biggest economy and hog much of the nation's wealth.
The reality, of course, is far more complicated. Past attempts to bring tycoons to heel have also been greeted with great fanfare, only to fizzle out. In April 2008, Lee's uncle, Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, resigned after being charged with criminal tax evasion. His ignominious fall was heralded as the end of the chaebol — until then-President Lee Myung-bak pardoned him eight months later, allowing Korea's richest man to return to work.