Seoul — Lee Kun-hee, who built Samsung Electronics into a global powerhouse in smartphones, semiconductors and televisions, died on Sunday after spending more than six years in hospital after a heart attack, the company said.

The charismatic leader of Samsung and South Korea’s richest person, grew it into the country’s biggest conglomerate. But he was also convicted of bribery and tax evasion, and he and the empire he built were vilified for wielding huge economic clout, and for opaque governance and dubious transfers of the family wealth...

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