SEOUL: Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee, detained for a two and a half-year sentence of bribery and other charges since January, received emergency surgery for a burst appendix late on Friday, Yonhap news agency said on Saturday.

Lee, 52, was transported from the Seoul Detention Center, where he was jailed, to Samsung Medical Center for the surgery, Yonhap said.

Lee needs to serve 18 months, after serving a year in 2017-2018 for the same case, which counts against the two and a half-year term.

An official at Seoul Detention Center could not be immediately reached. Samsung did not have an immediate comment.