3-Year LG Family Inheritance Dispute... Chairman Koo Kwangmo Wins the Case

Court Dismisses All of Plaintiffs' Claims

In the legal dispute within the owner family over the inherited assets of the late former LG Group Chairman Koo Bonmoo, the court of first instance has ruled in favor of LG Group Chairman Koo Kwangmo.

On the 12th, the 11th Civil Division of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Koo Kwanghyun) dismissed in full the plaintiffs' claims in the first-instance ruling on the inheritance recovery lawsuit filed by the late Chairman Koo's wife, Kim Youngsik, and his two daughters, Koo Yeonkyung, President of the LG Welfare Foundation, and Koo Yeonsu, against Chairman Koo Kwangmo.

Koo Kwangmo, Chairman of LG Group. Yonhap News Agency

The three women filed an inheritance recovery lawsuit in February 2023, demanding a redistribution of the inherited assets from Chairman Koo. Mrs. Kim and the two younger sisters are not Chairman Koo's biological mother and biological sister; they became a legal family when the late Chairman Koo adopted Chairman Koo as his son. During the trial, the three women argued that the inheritance agreement had been concluded without their accurate understanding and consent. Accordingly, they claimed that the inherited assets, including shares in LG Corp., should be redistributed according to the statutory inheritance ratio of "1.5 for the spouse to 1 for each child."

When the late Chairman Koo passed away in May 2018, he left 11.28% of LG Corp. shares, of which 8.76% went to Chairman Koo. The remaining shares were divided so that President Koo Yeonkyung received 2.01% and Koo Yeonsu received 0.51%. Mrs. Kim owns a 4.2% stake, the third-largest shareholding after Chairman Koo (15.95%) and LT Group Chairman Koo Bonsik (4.48%).

According to Article 999 of the Civil Act, the right to claim inheritance recovery expires three years from the date the infringement of the inheritance right is recognized, and ten years from the date the infringing act occurred. Chairman Koo's side argued that the inheritance procedures for Chairman Koo and others were completed in November 2018, and since Mrs. Kim and the others filed the lawsuit in February 2023, the exclusion period had long since passed.