[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Yeon-ju] Ku Ho-in, the older brother of the late Goo Hara who passed away last November, opened up about his feelings regarding the conflict with their biological mother over Goo Hara’s inheritance following his appearance on MBC's 'True Story Exploration Team.'
On the 2nd, Ku Ho-in posted on the online community Nate Pann, saying, "Many people have encouraged me after watching 'True Story Exploration Team,' so I am briefly sharing my thoughts through Pann, which I often enjoy." He began, "My siblings and I were abandoned by our biological mother and grew up going through difficult times."
Ku said, "At my elementary school graduation, middle school entrance and graduation ceremonies, while other children spent joyful times with their families, our biological mother had already left, and our father couldn’t come due to work, so we never took a single photo together. Afraid of being ostracized, I pretended to have a 'mother' who never existed since I was young. Like other kids, I wanted to throw tantrums at my mother or beg for toys, but my siblings and I never had that chance," he revealed.
He explained, "My younger sister worked part-time as a fitting model and never lost her dream of becoming a star. She went all the way to Seoul to audition, and after dozens of auditions, she joined Kara and started her idol career. She gained a lot of love and became known even in other countries. Even after becoming an adult, she resented our mother a lot but also missed her. We often wondered how things might have been if we had grown up loved. My sister and I cried together and talked a lot, relying on each other that way."
He continued, "In fact, my sister made several more extreme attempts. Not all of these incidents were reported in the news, but whenever something happened, I dropped everything at work and rushed to Seoul to take care of her. I tried to keep in frequent contact and see her often, but at that very moment, she made an extreme choice, and hearing the news almost drove me crazy," he shared his feelings.
He added, "Hara was always a child who longed for love. She received a lot of love from acquaintances and fans, but there was a place in her heart that remained unfilled. Then the Choi incident (Goo Hara assault and threats) happened. If my sister had grown up receiving our mother’s love, would such a thing have happened? After losing my sister, these thoughts kept me awake at night," he said.
Ku said, "Actually, even after multiple psychological counseling sessions and treatments, my sister didn’t get better, so following the doctor’s recommendation, I tried to find our biological mother, hoping meeting her might help. I thought meeting her would heal some of the emotional wounds, but the emptiness wasn’t filled; it was even more hollow. That biological mother is now after my sister’s inheritance. When I spoke with her at the funeral home, I saw light leaking through her phone screen. When I asked if she was recording our conversation, she admitted it. I was so angry that I deleted the recording on the spot and chased her away. I later heard that the person asking celebrities to take photos together at my sister’s funeral was, sadly, our biological mother," he expressed his sorrow.
He said, "After the funeral, the biological mother sent a lawyer’s business card and said she had delegated everything to that lawyer, telling me to contact them. They told me, who knows nothing about the law, that we should split 50:50 first and sort it out later. It seems the biological mother thinks that if I stay quiet, she can just take half of my sister’s inheritance, which made me furious. I can’t understand why someone who never loved us and abandoned us during such hard times would do this to us," he vented his frustration.
He added, "If tragic stories only become briefly an issue and then everything goes back to normal as if nothing happened, cases like ours will keep happening. So, with the hope that this will be the last time such a thing happens, I started a petition. I know that even if the law is revised or a new law is created, it won’t apply to our case. But even if it doesn’t apply to us, I hope it can prevent parents who abandon their duty of care from suddenly appearing and claiming inheritance in the future," he explained the purpose of the 'Goo Hara Law.'
Finally, he encouraged support for the petition, saying, "I consider this the last task my sister left behind on her path, and as her older brother, I want to leave a message that society has improved a little because of her."
Meanwhile, the 'Goo Hara Law' is a bill proposed by Ku, Goo Hara’s older brother, amid conflicts with their biological mother who neglected her duty of care and over inheritance division. The bill aims to add "cases where the duty of care to direct ascendants or descendants is grossly neglected" as a disqualification for inheritance under the current Civil Act.
On the 3rd, the petition related to the Goo Hara Law posted on the National Petition site of the National Assembly reached 100,000 signatures. If a petition receives more than 100,000 signatures within 30 days of registration, it is referred to the relevant standing committee for formal review. Based on this criterion, the Goo Hara Law will be referred to the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee.
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