Stuck in Seoul's protests

[Bloomberg] [Fully Charged]( From [Bloomberg]( [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]([Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]]( Hello all, its [Robert](mailto:rfenner@bloomberg.net?cmpid=BBD022717_TECH) penning my first newsletter. Although I'm based in Hong Kong as editor of our Asia technology coverage, I spent the last week in Seoul, where I got a front-row view of how pent-up anger in the country is affecting Samsung Electronics, and the man set to inherit control of the company. South Korea is a fascinating place. It's delivered household consumer names such as Hyundai and LG, spectacular fried chicken, the acquired taste that is [makgeolli]( and the pop culture phenomenon of Gangnam Style. All under the constant prospect that the tense peace with North Korea could one day boil over. But for months it's been dominated by the furor surrounding allegations of influence-peddling around impeached President Park Geun-hye and her confidante. That scandal has spread to the chaebols, the conglomerates that dominate the economy. As of this writing, Jay Y. Lee, the heir to the Samsung empire, remains locked up in a detention center just outside Seoul, waiting to find out if he will face trial. A decision on his indictment could come as soon as Tuesday. The billionaire has denied wrongdoing. It's newsworthy any time a business magnate is put in jail, but particularly so when that involves the biggest company in the country and a global leader in smartphones, TVs and memory semiconductors. While in the past, the arrest of a South Korean business leader often led to the eventual pardoning of a South Korean business leader, things look different now. On the streets of Seoul, just how febrile the situation has become was very clear to me, after nearly missing my flight trying to avoid massive protests. In separate parts of downtown on Saturday, both pro- and anti-Park protesters gathered to have their voices heard on the fourth anniversary of her inauguration. While the police put the crowds in the tens of thousands, the Yonhap news agency [cited estimates]( from organizers of about a million people gathering to criticize the president and even more for those coming to her defense. As I made my way through the city's [complex subway system](in sub-zero temperatures, there were certainly thousands heading to the protests. Families, military veterans in fatigues, everyone from the young to the elderly—many already clutching South Korean flags. At City Hall, there were tens of thousands crammed in as the streets were closed to traffic. Radiating from Seoul Plaza, down side streets and laneways, pressed hard up against the subway entrance and surrounding historic [Deoksugung Palace](, they stood and chanted. Every call to action by those with a microphone was met with an echoed response from the crowd. The 200 meter walk from the subway entrance to my hotel took a full 30 minutes and with no chance of a taxi for a trip to the airport, the return leg with a suitcase in hand took even longer. That people are angry and fed up with perceived corruption wasn't surprising, but three months after the first million-person street march, to see so many still at the barricades was a revelation. My unscientific poll of people on the streets showed resounding anger with many things. They spoke of anger at the now impeached Park, with opponents of the president, with the privileged chaebols that dominate Korea's economy, with being taken for granted and with Samsung itself. Fortunately a visiting foreign journalist didn't make the list. Once upon a time, a pardon for corporate malfeasance was inevitably met with forgiveness, ostensibly for the greater good of the country. Jay Y.'s father, who transformed Samsung Electronics, was convicted but later pardoned to help with the nation's Winter Olympics bid. The chairman of SK Group, an empire that includes the country's second-largest chipmaker, was pardoned by Park, who cited efforts to revive a sputtering economy. But that was then, before millions took to the street. Before punches were thrown in the subway as I walked past. Before dozens of buses brought thousands of riot police to downtown Seoul on a regular basis. And it's in this heated environment that the billionaire heir to control of South Korea's biggest chaebol faces justice over claims he gave tens of millions of dollars, and a [very expensive horse](, to someone else of privilege to secure his family's grip on the empire. And here’s what you need to know in global technology news The mobile industry's biggest annual gathering—Mobile World Congress—is well under way in Barcelona. Huawai and LG are [angling to gain an edge over Samsung](, which is taking more time to release its flagship S8 following last year's Note 7 exploding battery fiasco. Samsung only teased the release of its next smartphone, while [showing off new tablets](. As usual, Apple is skipping the entire event. It's been a long time since Nokia dominated headlines at MWC, but they came close this year. The once-dominant mobile-phone maker introduced [a redesign of the classic Nokia 3310](, a hugely popular device before the smartphone era began. It's not clear yet whether the new iteration is as [indestructible](as the original one. SoFi is raising more cash as it expands beyond student loans and into personal loans, mortgages, wealth management, life insurance and other areas. Silver Lake is leading a [$500 million investment round](that includes SoftBank and GPI Capital, bringing total investment to $1.9 billion. Meet Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the center of a fight between Google and Uber over self-driving car technology. Waymo, the company formed from Google's autonomous vehicle project, filed a [blistering lawsuit](accusing him of taking valuable intellectual property to benefit Uber. Peter Thiel has been able to keep a relatively low profile even after backing Donald Trump in the recent election. Politico reports that the investor is emerging as a sort of "shadow president" in Silicon Valley, with [signs of his influence on the administration](. Meanwhile, Palantir, his data-mining company that he backs, has been [expanding aggressively in Europe](. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Technology newsletter Fully Charged. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022