Lee Yoon-hyung

Who was Lee Yoon-hyung?

Lee Yoon-hyung was a South Korean millionaire and daughter of billionaire, former Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee. She committed suicide by hanging herself in her Astor Place apartment in the East Village, Manhattan on November 18, 2005.

Her cause of death was originally reported in both American and South Korean newspapers as a car crash due the social stigma against suicide, but the actual details were subsequently published after inquiries by reporters from The Korea Times. At the time of her death, Ms. Lee was a graduate student 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. 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 Korean boyfriend. At the time of her death, Ms. Lee had a personal fortune of more than £100m.

Ms. Lee was a graduate of Ewha Woman's University in Seoul with a degree in French literature. She was survived by her parents, her brother, Lee Jae-yong, and two sisters, Lee Pu-jin and Lee Seo-hyun. Her parents did not attend her funeral.