Honorary Chairman Cho Yang-rae's Petition for Limited Guardianship Rejected Again in Appeal Trial

The petition to commence limited guardianship proceedings for Cho Yang-rae, Honorary Chairman of Hankook & Company Group, was not accepted in the rehearing appeal.

Cho Yang-rae, Honorary Chairman of Hankook & Company. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The petition to commence limited guardianship proceedings filed by Cho Hee-kyung, Chairwoman of the Hankook Tire Sharing Foundation, was dismissed three times, seemingly allowing the current Chairman Cho Hyun-bum to ultimately secure management rights of Hankook & Company Group.

According to the legal community on the 31st, the Supreme Court Special Division 1 dismissed the rehearing appeal without review yesterday regarding the petition filed by Chairwoman Cho against her father, Honorary Chairman Cho, to commence limited guardianship proceedings. The court confirmed the final ruling without additional review, judging that there was no problem with the original judgment.

Previously, in June 2020, Chairwoman Cho filed an adult guardianship petition, arguing that when Honorary Chairman Cho sold all shares of Hankook & Company (then Korea Technology Group), the holding company of Hankook & Company Group, to his second son Cho Hyun-bum (then President) via a block deal, it was necessary to determine whether her father's decision was made voluntarily with a sound mind.

Adult guardianship is a system that appoints a guardian to assist adults who have difficulty making decisions due to mental limitations caused by old age, disability, or illness, helping with property management and other matters. Depending on the degree of mental limitation and scope of guardianship, it is divided into adult guardianship, limited guardianship, and specific guardianship.

However, the first trial court dismissed Chairwoman Cho’s petition in April 2022, and although she appealed, the appellate court also rejected it. Chairwoman Cho submitted a rehearing appeal to the Supreme Court last April.

A Hankook & Company Group official stated, “Since Honorary Chairman Cho is healthy, this was naturally the expected outcome, and we have no separate position.”