Court rejects LG chief's adoptive mother's petition to end adoption

A Seoul family court on Thursday dismissed a petition by Kim Young-sik, widow of LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo and adoptive mother of LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, seeking to dissolve their adoptive relationship.

The Seoul Family Court rejected Kim’s petition for judicial dissolution of the adoption. The court did not disclose its detailed reasoning during the hearing.

Kim filed the petition in November 2024 while she was involved in a separate inheritance dispute with Koo Kwang-mo over assets left by her late husband.

Koo Kwang-mo is the biological son of Koo Bon-neung, chairman of Heesung Group and younger brother of Koo Bon-moo. Koo Bon-moo adopted his nephew at age 26 in 2004 after losing his only son in an accident, a move widely viewed as paving the way for the succession of LG Group, which has traditionally followed a firstborn-son succession principle.

After Koo Bon-moo’s death in 2018, Koo Kwang-mo inherited most of his adoptive father’s shares in LG Group and became the conglomerate’s largest shareholder.

The inheritance dispute began in 2023, when Kim and her two daughters — one of whom heads the LG Welfare Foundation — filed a lawsuit seeking the recovery and redistribution of the inherited assets. They argued that the inheritance should be divided again.

Thursday’s ruling leaves Koo Kwang-mo’s legal status as Koo Bon-moo’s adopted son unchanged, while the separate inheritance dispute continues in court.