Samsung chairman out of ICU, still unconscious

Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, 72, who was hospitalized after undergoing heart surgery earlier this month, has been moved out of the intensive care unit after his condition improved, the conglomerate announced yesterday.

He was released to a general ward nine days after he arrived at the ICU having suffered from a heart attack on May 10.

“Chairman Lee Kun-hee was moved to a general ward on Monday because the result of a medical checkup showed that he is very stable and his conditions have improved significantly,” Samsung Group’s future strategy communications team said.

However, staff at Samsung Medical Center, where the chairman is staying, have not yet decided if they will end treatment for his hypothermia, for which he is being injected with sleep-inducing sedatives.

On May 10, the chairman of the country’s largest conglomerate received CPR at Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital in Hannam-dong, central Seoul, after suffering from a heart attack.

Lee also had heart attack symptoms at the hospital.

He was then transferred to Samsung Medical Center, where he received surgery to insert a tube into a coronary artery to maintain the flow of blood to his heart.

BY CHOI JOON-HO, LEE EUN-JOO [angie@joongang.co.kr]