From Cobra Gold to the ROK-US Naval Meeting... Jiho Lee, Eldest Son of Jae-yong Lee, Shines as Interpretation Officer

Republic of Korea-U.S. Naval Education Commanders' Meeting Held in Jinhae on September 9
Jiho Lee's Participation as Interpreter Attracts Attention After Belated Disclosure
Renounced Dual Citizenship to Serve as Naval Officer...Assigned as Interpretation Officer

The fact that Jiho Lee, the eldest son of Samsung Electronics Chairman Jae-yong Lee and a Navy Second Lieutenant, served as an interpreter at the Republic of Korea-United States Naval Education Commanders' Cooperation Meeting has become a topic of interest after it was belatedly revealed.

Previously, The Defense Daily reported on September 9 that a cooperation meeting between Vice Admiral Kang Jeong-ho, Commander of the Republic of Korea Naval Education and Training Command, and Rear Admiral Gregory Huffman, Commander of the U.S. Naval Education and Training Command, was held at the Republic of Korea Naval Education and Training Command headquarters in Jinhae-gu, Changwon City, Gyeongnam Province.

Lee Jiho, the eldest son of Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, is saluting at the commissioning ceremony of the 139th Navy Officer Candidate Class held at the Naval Academy in Jinhae-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, in November of last year. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On that day, Second Lieutenant Lee interpreted the conversation between the two commanders. At the time, it was not known that Second Lieutenant Lee was present at the site, but roughly three weeks later, his participation at the meeting was confirmed through photos published by The Defense Daily, drawing significant attention.

Second Lieutenant Lee is assigned to the Intelligence Operations Office of the Navy's 5th Mine Landing Brigade. For this meeting, he was dispatched to provide interpretation support for the nearby education command. Interpretation officers play a role in assisting communication between commanders and translating related information during joint operations or military exchanges with foreign forces.

Previously, in February this year, Second Lieutenant Lee was dispatched as an interpretation officer to "Cobra Gold 2026," a multinational combined amphibious exercise held in areas around Thailand. In that exercise, which involved more than 8,000 participants from 30 countries, he was responsible for communication with foreign militaries and information translation tasks.

Second Lieutenant Lee was born in the United States and had dual citizenship of Korea and the United States, but is known to have renounced his U.S. citizenship in order to serve as a naval officer. He entered as an officer candidate for the 139th class of the Navy's Academic Officer program in September last year, underwent 11 weeks of officer training at the Navy Academy, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant at the end of November in the same year. After completing initial military training, he was assigned as an interpretation officer.

At the commissioning and graduation ceremony for the 139th Navy and Marine Corps officer candidates held last November at the Naval Academy parade ground in Jinhae-gu, Changwon City, Gyeongnam Province, newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Jiho Lee (center) is taking a commemorative photo with Samsung Electronics Chairman Jae-yong Lee (right) and Honorary Director of the Leeum Museum of Art Rahee Hong.

Currently, his mandatory service period is known to be three years, and he is scheduled for promotion to First Lieutenant on December 1. His discharge date is scheduled for November 30, 2028.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Korea-United States Naval Education Commanders' Cooperation Meeting was reportedly established after Commander Kang proposed the formation of a regular consultative body during his visit to the U.S. Naval Education Command and Recruiting Command last year, and the U.S. side accepted the proposal.

At the meeting, the two navies discussed expanding exchanges to foster elite personnel and ways to advance educational training. Discussions included transitioning pre-assignment training for officers and non-commissioned officers to an on-the-job training (OJT) approach and streamlining advanced education courses for non-commissioned officers.

In addition, topics such as cooperation in educational fields to address new battlefield environments, including artificial intelligence (AI), space, and manned-unmanned combined combat systems, as well as the establishment of a naval recruitment center, were also discussed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.