Samsung chief's daughter divorce settlement fails
By Bahk Eun-ji
Lee Bu-jin Hotel Shilla president
Hotel Shilla President Lee Bu-jin, the eldest daughter of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, failed to reach a divorce settlement Tuesday, according to court officials.
The divorce case between Lee and her husband Im Woo-jae, vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, will now go to trial.
She filed for divorce on Oct. 8. They had been together for 15 years and have a son attending elementary school.
The two could not agree on various issues, including child custody, during a court-arranged mediation at Suwon District Court in Gyeonggi Province, court officials and lawyers said.
Both sides are determined to have child custody.
“Who should have custody was the key difference. They also have yet to reach an agreement on how to divide their wealth,” a court official said.
Lee met her husband when he was working as a rank-and-file employee at Samsung C&T in 1995 and married him in 1999.
After she got married, Im went to the United States to study and worked for the company’s headquarters there. It was reported Lee made her decision to divorce Im after her father was hospitalized following a heart attack in May last year.