SEOUL: A vice-president of South Korea’s largest company Samsung

Electronics has committed suicide by apparently jumping from his Seoul apartment building, police and company officials said today.

Police said the 51-year old man, identified only by his last name Lee, was found dead yesterday outside the building by a security guard. They refused to confirm news reports that Lee left a note saying he felt heavily burdened at work.

“This is a personal tragedy,” a Samsung spokesman said, declining to give details such as the vice-president’s full name.

Lee joined Samsung in 1992

and mostly worked at its

semiconductor and flash memory division.

The company is the world’s largest memory chip and flat-screen TV maker.

In 2006, the US-educated Lee won the title of “Samsung Fellow” which is awarded annually to the company’s most outstanding engineer.