The spouse and daughters of the late former Chairman Koo Bon-moo, who lost a legal battle over his inheritance, said they will appeal the first-instance ruling.
The former chairman's wife, Kim Young-sik, and his two daughters, Koo Yeon-kyung, head of the LG Welfare Foundation, and Koo Yeon-soo, said in a statement delivered through their legal representatives after the verdict on the 12th that "this ruling stems from the organized deceit by the LG finance management team, which shares interests with the defendant and holds full authority over information such as assets, and by outside parties, rather than from the heirs," and "we express deep regret that the decision relied solely on unilateral testimony and materials from the finance management team, which were the actors in the conduct."
They further argued that the ruling, which relied on the testimony of the deceivers, overlooked the essence of the infringement of inheritance rights.
They said, "The court accepted the statements of finance management team employees who provided materially false information during the inheritance asset partitioning consultation, acknowledged the existence of a 'will memo,' and concluded there was no deceit," adding, "rather than ascertaining the deceased's true will, it lent more of an ear to the claims of those representing the defendant's interests."
They also said, "The court denied causation between the deceitful conduct and the consultation on the grounds that the plaintiffs expressed concrete intentions regarding some assets," pointing out that "it overlooked that the plaintiffs' expressions of intent were based on a false memo—'transfer all management assets to the defendant'—and on the blocking of information."
They added, "We plan to file an immediate appeal on the judgment that our position and evidence were not fully conveyed," and "we will uncover the substance of the deceit and restore the deceased's true will."
The 11th Civil Division of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Koo Gwang-hyun) said it would dismiss in full the claim for recovery of inheritance filed by the spouse and daughters of former Chairman Koo Bon-moo against Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.
The court found that the inheritance asset partitioning agreement was validly executed. The court said, "In the initially drafted inheritance asset partitioning agreement, the defendant (Chairman Koo) was to inherit all the shares, but at the request of the plaintiffs (the three women), the contents were changed so that they would inherit part of them," adding, "there were concrete expressions of intent regarding the inherited assets."
YulChon, the law firm representing Chairman Koo, said, "The court confirmed that the inheritance asset partitioning consultation was conducted according to due procedure and reflected the parties' true intent."