Last week Kim Yong-chul, a former top Samsung lawyer, went public with allegations that Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and other officials masterminded a campaign to raise slush funds to pay prosecutors, judges and lawmakers and influence a high-profile court case.

The spreading bribery scandal has renewed old concerns about the perceived power and influence of the "Republic of Samsung" — as the conglomerate has been called — within the Republic of Korea, South Korea's formal name.

"Samsung has two faces," Kim Byung-su, the editorial page editor at the liberal Hankyoreh newspaper wrote.

"The Samsung brand is a name recognised worldwide and makes you proud. Take a step back, however, and there is another Samsung."

Prosecutors launched a probe this week into the allegations, which Samsung vehemently denies.

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