Lee Yoon-hyung (; ; April 26, 1979 – November 18, 2005) was a South Korean millionaire and daughter of

Samsung Group The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ' ...

chief

Lee Kun-hee Lee Kun-hee (, ; 9 January 194225 October 2020) was a South Korean business magnate who served as the chairman of Samsung Group from 1987 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2020, and is credited with the transformation of Samsung to one of the world's la ...

. She died by suicide by hanging herself in her

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

apartment on November 18, 2005 at the age of 26.

Personal life

Lee was born on April 26, 1979, in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. Her father was

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

chief

, and her mother was Hong Ra-hee. She was the youngest of the four children; she had an elder brother Lee Jae-yong and two elder sisters Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun. Lee graduated from

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational inst ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in French language and

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

. She was a first year graduate student in arts management at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. In 2003, it was revealed that she owned $191 million of Samsung stock. In her spare time, she was very keen on car racing and many extreme sports. She also launched a personal blog to show her daily life to the public and it became very popular in South Korea.三星会长幼女自杀引发思考:灿烂背后的焦虑(图)
Retrieved in 2016-08-12

Death

Her cause of death was originally reported in both American and South Korean media as a car crash due to the social stigma against suicide, but the actual details were subsequently published after inquiries by reporters from ''

The Korea Times ''The Korea Times'' is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the '' Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language daily; both are owned by Dongwha Enterprise, a wood-based manufacture ...

''. At the time of her death, Lee was a

graduate student Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and s ...

at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and her father was in the United States undergoing treatment for

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

. A doorman at her building told reporters that she sometimes stayed in her apartment for a week at a time, and there were reports that her father had forbidden her to marry her middle-class Korean boyfriend. At the time of her death, Lee had a personal fortune of more than £100 million (US$157 million).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Yoon-hyung 1979 births 2005 suicides Samsung people Ewha Womans University alumni Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni Suicides in New York City Suicides by hanging in New York City People from the East Village, Manhattan 2005 deaths Lee family (South Korea)