A Seoul court dismissed on Friday a petition raised by the son of a late Busan-based businessman to retrieve his father's share assets, which he said were illegally taken by late authoritarian President Park Chung-hee five decades ago.
The court ruled in favor of the state and the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation, saying Kim Ji-tae, the businessman who also was a two-term lawmaker in the 50s, had a choice to make after he was forced to donate.
The court also said the statue of limitations for laws under which Kim's family could have canceled the donation or demanded compensation for the forced donation has already expired.
The foundation has been an ongoing source of criticism by liberal politicians against Park Geun-hye, the chairwoman of the ruling Saenuri Party, for her link to the controversial education foundation, built upon Kim's assets forcibly transferred to the state following the 1961 military coup led by her father.
"It is accepted that Kim was forced by the state to express his intention to give up the shares," Judge Yeom Son-sup of the Seoul Central District Court said. "But we do not recognize the degree of compulsion was high enough to completely deprive Kim of his own right to make a decision," he said.
"The right to call off a decision made under compulsion remains valid for 10 years upon the date of event ... and (Kim's) right expired, since he did not invoke it over the 10 years after the transfer made on June 20, 1962," the judge said.
Kim transferred in 1962 his 100 percent stake in local newspaper publisher Busan Daily, the major TV broadcaster MBC and its regional station in Busan to the state treasuries in return for lifting illegal wealth accumulation charges raised against him.
The assets were used to set up the scholarship committee, first named the May 16 Scholarship Foundation after the 1961 military coup launched on the date by President Park.
It was later renamed the Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation after borrowing each word from the name of Park and his wife Yook Young-su. The foundation now holds the 100 percent stake in the Busan-based newspaper and a 30 percent share in the broadcasting company.
Since its foundation, the scholarship committee has been exclusively run by Park's close aides and family members, including his daughter Park Geun-hye, triggering accusations that the Park family personally controlls the illegitimately acquired assets.
Amid rising controversy, the junior Park stepped down as the head of the board at the foundation in 2005 after her ten-year management. It is now headed by Choi Phillip, a close confidant of the late president.
Park's side has insistently claimed that the share transfer was made upon Kim's own free will.
An ad-hoc state investigative committee under the late liberal president Roh Moo-hyun previously acknowledged the forcible nature of the share transfer, advising the foundation to return what was illegally take from Kim in 2007.
Following the 2007 decision, which was not legally binding, Kim's son Kim Young-ku filed the suit in 2010, asking the foundation to return the shares or have the state pay out 1 billion won (US$889,521) in compensation. (Yonhap)