The fighting inside South Korea's richest family is spreading as another sibling is suing Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee for a portion of their father's fortune that they believe he hid from them.

Two weeks ago, Mr. Lee's eldest brother Lee Maeng-hee filed a suit, seeking about 714 billion won, or $635 million, in shares of various Samsung companies, mainly Samsung Life. On Monday, his elder sister Lee Sook-hee also filed suit against him, seeking about 196 billion won in shares.

They both argue that their younger brother took a portion of their father's wealth that were hidden under the names of other people and didn't tell them.

Most of the dispute centers around shares of Samsung Life, which went public in 2010. Of the 200 million outstanding shares of Samsung Life, Lee Kun-hee is the single biggest shareholder with around 41.5 million shares or 20.7% of the total. The 8.24 million shares demanded by Lee Maeng-hee amount to approximately 19.8% of his younger brother's stake. The 2.23 million shares sought by Lee Sook-hee represent about 5%.

Lee Kun-hee's control of Samsung Electronics, the largest company in Asia by revenue, is bound up in a series of cross-holdings of Samsung affiliates that include Samsung Life. It is unclear precisely how his siblings' lawsuits would affect the cross-holdings but it doesn't seem likely they would unravel to the point where he would lose his control.

Even so, the feud within the Samsung family is surfacing in other ways, too. Last Thursday, CJ Group reported to police that its Chairman Lee Jae-hyun, the son of Lee Maeng-hee, was tailed by an employee of Samsung C&T, an engineering and construction unit of Samsung.

'It is very unfortunate. Samsung should sincerely explain why this happened and who ordered this,' CJ said in a statement. The company submitted to police CCTV footage that showed a black sedan driving around Lee Jae-hyun's house multiple times since Feb. 15. But Samsung said it was just a misunderstanding and that the employee went the area for other business purposes.

There have been squabbles before, however. In 1995, it was revealed that Samsung set up a video camera on the roof of Lee Kun-hee's residence which was suspected to watch Lee Jae-hyun's house. Samsung later removed it.

CJ Group cut its formal business ties with Samsung in 1997.

Last year, the two companies collided in bidding for Korea Express, a logistics company. CJ won.

Some industry watchers believe the seeds for feuds were planted decades ago when the father and founder of the Samsung empire, Lee Byung-chull, tapped Lee Kun-hee, his third son, as his successor, ignoring Confucian tradition that holds family fortunes and businesses should pass first to the eldest son.

Jaeyeon Woo

• portion [´pɔ:ʃən] n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配 (初中英语单词)
• mainly [´meinli] ad.主要地；大体上 (初中英语单词)
• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• dispute [di´spju:t] v.&n.争论，辩论；争吵 (初中英语单词)
• amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
• series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
• affect [ə´fekt] vt.影响；感动；假装 (初中英语单词)
• construction [kən´strʌkʃən] n.建设；修建；结构 (初中英语单词)
• unfortunate [ʌn´fɔ:tʃunit] a.不幸的，运气差的 (初中英语单词)
• residence [´rezidəns] n.居住(期间)；住宅 (初中英语单词)
• formal [´fɔ:məl] a.正式的；外表的 (初中英语单词)
• tradition [trə´diʃən] n.传统；惯例；传说 (初中英语单词)
• eldest [´eldist] a.最年长的 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• outstanding [aut´stændiŋ] a.突出的；显著的 (高中英语单词)
• approximately [ə´prɔksimətli] ad.近似地，几乎正确地 (高中英语单词)
• revenue [´revinju:] n.税收；收入 (高中英语单词)
• precisely [pri´saisli] ad.精确地；刻板地 (高中英语单词)
• engineering [,endʒi´niəriŋ] n.工程技术；工程学 (高中英语单词)
• sincerely [sin´siəli] ad.真诚地；诚恳地 (高中英语单词)
• founder [´faundə] n.奠基者 v.陷落 (高中英语单词)
• successor [sək´sesə] n.继承人，接班人 (高中英语单词)
• misunderstanding [,misʌndə´stændiŋ] n.误解；隔阂 (英语六级单词)