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Their company's success helped build a nation.
The company is such a big part of Korea's economy.
But who are the family behind one of the world's tech giants?
The major corporate empire that we now know today.
Samsung.
Inheritance Samsung from the BBC World Service explores the real life dramas of the Lee family and their company Samsung.
There's a succession style drama underneath of all this.
Inheritance Samsung, coming soon, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
What happens when a conflict starts hitting the infrastructure that powers the global economy?
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I am Bissi Adepayo.
We'll look at how attacks on energy sites across the Gulf are driving volatility in oil and gas markets and the return of K-pop superstars BTS.
And we begin with the International Energy Agency's call on governments to do what they can to reduce demand for oil, including encouraging people to work from home and cutting road speed limits by 10 kilometers an hour.
The head of the IEA, Fatiba Roll, says the disruption to supplies caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran is huge.
Our world is facing the greatest global energy security challenge in the history.
It is much bigger than what we had in the 1970s, the oil price shocks.
It is also bigger than the natural gas price shock we have experienced after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
And it is not only oil and gas. fertilizers, petrochemicals, these are all facing major problems.
And so the world's attention remains closely focused on energy prices, with prices for oil and gas soaring since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.
Well, let's bring in Randeep Sumel, a fund manager at M&G Investments.
Randeep, it's been three weeks since all of this started.
What are you seeing in energy prices today?
The energy prices remain volatile.
Oil, European Brent is up to 106.
Gas prices are rising.
The volatility seems to stay.
And with the US now announcing they're sending three additional warships and more troops to the Middle East, it looks like it's going to stay this way for a while.
And we've seen all of that trickle into the markets as well.
That's right.
The S&P is now down a percent.
All European markets are weak and we're seeing bond yields rise, because as long as this continues, the inflation in the economic system is likely to increase.
And while we run a path of declining interest rates, they may need to rise to offset this inflation.
Stay with us Randeep, because the story is moving very quickly and several Gulf countries have again come under attack from drones and missiles fired by Iran.
Israel had struck Iran's south-west gas field, prompting retaliation across energy sites in the region.
And a major gas facility in Qatar has been badly damaged, with repairs expected to take years.
So what does that mean for global energy supply?
I've been speaking to Anne-Sophie Corbeau from the Centre on Global Energy Policy.
Qatar is the second largest energy exporter in the world.
They represent slightly below 20% of global energy capacity.
So for the world, this is a very important volume.
And all of these destructions to these facilities have caused significant damage.
And it would take years to repair, of course.
What does this tell us about how serious this escalation is for global energy supply and pricing?
Well, what this is showing us is the fact that energy infrastructure is very vulnerable to such attacks.
I don't think people were really expecting that.
And it can, of course, get worse.
I mean right now we are looking at this specific attack on a very important piece of LNG infrastructure.
But you can also imagine that the Iranians would also try to attack Abqaiq in Saudi Arabia, which is also very important, but on the oil side.
So the first thing is that we don't know yet how this war is going to end, because there are really two things.
We need to stop the attacks on energy infrastructure and we need also to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
And nobody has quite figured out how to do that.
So we are in a complicated situation where I think everybody, from definitely Europeans and Asian countries, is trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, because we are the ones directly impacted by this oil, high oil and gas prices.
And talking about the Strait of Hormuz, a lot of the world's energy flows through this region, of course,
So are we anywhere close to seeing real disruption?
Well, on the oil side, I mean, there are substantial stocks and actually the International Energy Agency has released some emergency stocks last week, I mean or at least has announced that these stocks would be released.
On the gas side it's a little bit different, because we have stocks, but in order to cover heating demand during winter.
So we are at the end of the winter, the stocks are actually relatively low and we need to refill them.
And i think for us europeans, the main question is to what extent and how we can refill the stocks to be ready for the next winter.
Make no mistake, we are going to be in competition with some other countries on the other side of the planet, in particular Japan, Korea and Taiwan, which can afford to pay higher prices.
But it's also very important to understand that in the global south, in developing countries which cannot afford to pay very high gas prices, this crisis is very simply resulting into demand destruction.
So these are factories which are not functioning. fertilizer in particular.
So, down the line, because there are also a lot of fertilizer exports which are going through the strait, we might eventually have a food crisis emerging in a few months from now or a year from now.
That was Anne-Sophie Corbeau from the Centre on Global Energy Policy.
And of course, no country in the world is immune to rise in fuel prices.
High diesel prices are affecting these French fishermen.
The more expensive diesel is, the more our salaries will decrease.
If diesel prices remain this high, fishermen's salaries will decrease by at least a third, easily.
For the moment, it's OK.
We can afford to go out to sea.
But if fuel prices keep increasing, we'll be forced to remain in port.
Randeep Simmel from M&G Investments is still with us.
Randeep, let's talk about the patent on semaglutide, which is the key ingredient behind the drugs like Wegovi and Ozembic and is expiring in India today.
What could that mean for investors and pharma companies in the US and Europe? time.
So it's probably not going to have a huge impact for investors.
Novo Nordisk, who manufacture these drugs, have always known that these patents would expire at a certain point in time.
Now, India is not a huge market.
The ability to pay for these drugs is a lot less.
In markets like the US, where they generate more than half of their revenue.
The patents still go on to 2032.
And by then, Novo Nordisk are expecting to have their second generation drugs onto the market.
Thanks, Randeep.
China has warned its citizens to be careful when investing in mining in Zimbabwe.
The government in Harare imposed a ban on the export of lithium and other raw minerals.
Zimbabwe wants to promote local processing and to curb irregular exports.
The country supplies almost a fifth of China's lithium imports, a key component in batteries.
The BTS army will have to wait a while to see their favorite band again.
Tough day, a heartbreak.
K-pop supergroup BTS are back.
And that was the trailer from their first show in almost four years streaming on Netflix this Saturday.
And you can hear just how hyped the fans are there.
And not only is the band back, but they've also released a brand new album and are kicking off a huge global tour.
Seda Bol Seiji is Professor of Korean and East Asian Studies at Pusan National University. people are so excited there's so many activities too on the side it's not just that we're going to have the concert tomorrow or that everybody's going to start streaming madly later today it's It's also a series of events and special decorations.
And it's like a treasure hunt.
The entire country has become a treasure hunt for fans, who are just so excited that this day has finally come.
And that's it from World Business Express.
Please subscribe to get the latest.
Search for World Business Express.
I'm Bissi Adibayo.
Thanks for listening.
