Lee Boo-jin – South Korean Business Woman

As the president and CEO of the Hotel Shilla, Lee Boo-jin has had a difficult year personally. Her divorce was made public at the end of 2015, and was appealed by her ex-husband only three weeks later on ground of child-custody. In fact, Lee stepped down from her leadership and advisory position as a result, at Samsung C&T. However, she is still at the helm of the Hotel Shilla division.

As the oldest daughter of the Lee Kun-hee the chairman of Samsung, she is worried about her father's health all the time. However, many see her as a key part of the Samsung empire and the next heiress to the company. All this despite the fact that Shilla took a hit back in 2015 when the MERS virus outbreak happened and fewer tourists from China were seen. However, business has once again started to pick up, as strong sales were seen from the outlet in Changi Airport. In 2016, Lee Boo-jin was named one of Asia’s 50 most powerful and influential business women by Forbes magazine.

The masculine name Boo is from of the Chinese name Bo that means “wave”, 甫 that means “great, father, man, begin” or 寶 that means “jewel, treasure, rare or precious”, or other characters with a similar pronunciation. Whereas, the masculine and feminine Korean name jin is taken from the character 眞 that means “genuine or real” or 珍  that means “rare or precious”. There are many other possible combinations of hanja characters that can be used to form this name.