SEOUL—Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee left a South Korean jail a free man on Monday after a panel of judges suspended his sentence, a surprise decision that sent shockwaves through the country’s political and business establishments.
Coming just days before South Koreans gather to host the Winter Olympics, the ruling reignited an intense public debate over widespread corruption in a case that ousted President Park Geun-hye from office last year and has ensnared leading members of the family-run “chaebol” conglomerates.
