Ex-husband of Hotel Shilla chief claims property division worth 1 tln won

SEOUL, July 6 (Yonhap) — The ex-husband of Hotel Shilla’s CEO and the eldest daughter of the Samsung group’s chief has filed a suit, seeking over 1 trillion won (US$857 million) in property division, legal sources said Wednesday.

Im Woo-jae, an adviser at Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., filed the case with the Seoul Family Court late last month. He has also filed the case with the Suwon District Court where the appeals trial on his divorce suit is pending.

In January, the Seongnam branch of the Suwon court accepted the divorce claim filed by Lee Boo-jin, awarding parental rights and custody of their elementary school-aged child to Lee. Im was given rights to visit his son once a month.

The case entered a new phase as Im previously claimed that he had never taken into consideration the division of property, as he wanted to protect the family.

The Seoul family court said it is reviewing whether it has the jurisdiction over the case, as the couple’s divorce suit is already pending at the Suwon court.

The couple is known to have met in 1995 and their wedding four years later drew much public attention. It was deemed a love story between an heiress of a multi-billion dollar business group and a rank-and-file employee at one of the conglomerate’s affiliate firms.

Lee Boo-jin (L), the eldest daughter of the Samsung Group owner family, and Im Woo-jae are officially divorced after a local court on Jan. 14, 2016, accepted the claim filed by Lee, ending their marriage of 17 years. The marriage received much press because she is an heir to a mega-conglomerate and he an ordinary employee of a Samsung-affiliated company. Im had climbed up the corporate ladder at Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., also a Samsung affiliate, after the marriage to the executive vice president before stepping down in 2015 to become a company adviser. (Yonhap)