By KELLY OLSEN
The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — More than anything, Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee craved respect for the conglomerate his father founded 70 years ago.
Indicted for tax evasion, he resigned Tuesday lamenting he failed to attain it after two decades at the top of South Korea's biggest industrial group.
The 66-year-old tycoon was brought down by the flip side of Samsung's enormous success in producing world-beating products ranging from computer chips to container ships: a recurring penchant for scandal and nagging questions about corporate governance.
"I promised 20 years ago that the day when Samsung was recognized as a first-class business, the glory and fruition would all be yours," Lee said in words directed to the "Samsung family," meaning its employees.
"I truly apologize for not having been able to keep that promise."
Lee is widely credited as the visionary who transformed Samsung Electronics Co. from a purveyor of mostly cheap televisions and other household goods into a global force in technology, the quality of its semiconductors, flat-screen TVs and mobile phones second to none.
"Making and selling faulty products is like producing and spreading poison," the Japan-educated Lee once famously wrote in a Samsung management guide.
Other companies in the sprawling conglomerate include Samsung Heavy Industries Co., one of the world's largest shipbuilders. Samsung C&T Corp., the group's construction and trading arm, is building what it touts as the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai.
Samsung is perceived to play such a pivotal role in the domestic economy - where group companies account for as much as one-fifth of exports - that South Koreans sometimes call their country the "Republic of Samsung."
Until recent weeks, South Koreans were unaccustomed to hearing much publicly from Lee, who has been described as a loner with a fascination for gadgets and how they work. During an independent counsel investigation, however, Lee spoke to reporters after undergoing hours of questioning twice in a week - and even hinted he might resign.

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