Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung electronics and the only son of Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, publicly apologized Monday for the company’s inability to stop the spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in South Korea.

“Our Samsung Medical Center could not stop the infection and the spread of MERS, causing so much pain and worry for the public. I bow my head to apologize,” Lee said in a public television appearance that coincided with his 47th birthday.

In May, Lee (known professionally as Jay Y. Lee) became the chairman of Samsung Foundation, the charity organization that owns Samsung Medical Center, one of the largest hospitals in the country. Out of 175 MERS patients in South Korea, 85 were patients, relatives, staff or visitors at the Samsung hospital in Seoul. One of the MERS patients was a Samsung contract worker who was not quarantined and continued to work at the hospital until confirmed to have the disease.

The MERS outbreak has killed 27 people since May.

Lee’s father Lee Kun-hee has been hospitalized at the Samsung Medical Center after suffering a heart attack in 2014.

“My father has been lying at this hospital for more than a year. I understand even to a small degree the worry and pain that patients and their families have experienced,” Reuters quoted Lee as saying.

Lee is expected to succeed his father as Samsung chairman.

Associated Press contributed reporting

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