"High Possibility That Chairman Koo Bonmoo's Intention Memo Did Not Exist," Assert the Three Women
The first trial verdict in the LG Group inheritance lawsuit, which has continued for two and a half years, will be delivered in February next year. On December 23, the Civil Division 11 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Koo Kwanghyun) announced that, after concluding hearings on the inheritance recovery lawsuit between the three women of the Koo family and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwangmo, it will issue a ruling on this case on February 12, 2026. The court also requested both parties to submit written statements by January 23, 2026.
The three women are the late former LG Group Chairman Koo Bonmoo’s wife, Kim Youngsik, and his two daughters, Koo Yeongkyung, CEO of the LG Welfare Foundation, and Koo Yeonsoo. On this day, the three women argued, “It is highly likely that the memo expressing the late Chairman Koo Bonmoo’s intention to pass on management assets to Chairman Koo does not exist.” Management assets refer to shares of LG Corporation and its affiliates related to the management of LG Group, as well as dividends derived from those shares.
Chairman Koo’s side countered, “The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit only in February 2023, four years and three months after completing the inheritance division agreement in December 2018,” emphasizing that not only was the issue raised belatedly, but the statute of limitations had also expired. They added, “Multiple witnesses, including Ha Beomjong, Head of LG Group’s Management Support Division (President), have consistently testified that the late Chairman Koo Bonmoo’s intention memo does exist,” and explained, “The intention memo was discarded together with other personal documents of the late Chairman after the inheritance division agreement was drawn up and the inheritance tax report was completed, which is not unusual at all.”
Lee Sangwoo, The Law Times
※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.
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