1 trillion won of Lee Kun-hee's estate to be donated

Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman at Samsung Electronics, enters a conference room at the company's office in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul, on May 6, last year. [YONHAP]

Samsung Electronics has released details about the disposition of the estate of Lee Kun-hee, who was at the time of his death the largest individual shareholder of the company.

It said in a statement Wednesday that 1 trillion won ($898 million) will be donated to an existing hospital and to a new hospital and that most of an art collection owned by Lee Kun-hee would be transferred to a number of art museums.

It also clarified the amount of inheritance tax the beneficiaries will pay, confirming that the total will be more than $10 billion.

Lee Kun-hee owned 4.18 percent of Samsung Electronics, 2.88 percent of Samsung C&T and 20.76 percent of Samsung Life Insurance.

Family members will "pay 12 trillion won of inheritance tax, which is more than half of the inherited assets, including the securities in Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Electronics and Samsung C&T and real estate," according to the statement, which added that the obligation will be divided into six payments over five years.

The total is based on a 60 percent tax rate, according to a Samsung Electronics spokesperson.

In terms of the donations, the company said that 700 billion won will go to the National Medical Center for the establishment a hospital and research facilities dedicated to preventing infectious diseases.

Another 300 billion won will be donated to the Seoul National University Children's Hospital for the treatments of young patients diagnosed with cancer and rare diseases.

The family will transfer around 23,000 works of art owned by Lee Kun-hee to several state-run museums, including the National Museum of Korea, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, the Jeonnam Museum of Art and the Daegu Art Museum.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]