Samsung Electronics chief says sorry for scandal

Samsung Electronics has apologised to shareholders for its role in a corruption case that led to South Korea's president being impeached.

"I'm sorry for the scandal," chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun said at the company's annual meeting in Seoul.

Samsung Group boss Jay Y. Lee is accused of bribing a friend of the former president in return for government support in a deal.

Mr Lee is currently in jail awaiting trial.

Samsung has said it did not pay bribes in the form of donations, but has pledged to improve its corporate governance.

The world's largest smartphone-maker also addressed the fallout from last year's failure of the Galaxy Note 7.

Samsung had to abandon production of the smartphone after a number of them caught fire.

"I apologise once again for the mistake with the Note 7 last year. It was a failure that arose from trying new technology," Mr Kwon said.

The debacle is estimated to have cost Samsung about $6bn.

Samsung Electronics also announced at Friday's meeting that it would not be changing its corporate structure to use a holding company.

The company has been under pressure from investors to simplify its ownership structure.

"There are negative effects that would arise from transitioning to a holding company so it does not appear it will be easy to do so at present," Mr Kwon said.