The Seoul Family Court dismissed the petition filed by Kim Young-sik, widow of former LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo and adoptive mother of the current chairman. The court did not disclose the reasoning for its decision.
“I do not believe Koo Kwang-mo and I can continue our relationship as mother and son,” Kim told reporters after the ruling.
She said she hoped they could return to their separate lives and would continue seeking a way to legally end their relationship.
The extraordinary attempt to dissolve the adoption adds another layer to a family fight over an arrangement that once appeared to settle LG's succession for a generation.
LG has traditionally passed control through the eldest son of the Koo family. Founder Koo In-hwoi handed the group to his eldest son, Koo Cha-kyung, who in turn was succeeded in 1995 by his eldest son, Koo Bon-moo.
Koo Bon-moo's only biological son died in an accident in 1994, leaving him with two daughters but no male heir.
In 2004, he adopted Koo Kwang-mo, then 26, the eldest son of his younger brother Koo Bon-neung, chairman of Heesung Group. At the time, LG said the decision followed the family's Confucian tradition under which the eldest son carries on family affairs.
Koo Kwang-mo remained biologically the son of Koo Bon-neung but legally became the son of Koo Bon-moo and Kim Young-sik, positioning him to become the fourth-generation leader of LG.
Fourteen years later, following Koo Bon-moo's death in 2018, Koo Kwang-mo inherited most of his adoptive father's stake in holding company LG Corp., became its largest shareholder and took over as group chairman.
What had been regarded as one of South Korea's smoother chaebol successions later descended into an unusually public family dispute.
In 2023, Kim and her two daughters, Koo Yeon-kyung, head of the LG Welfare Foundation, and Koo Yeon-soo, sued Koo Kwang-mo seeking to recover and redistribute part of Koo Bon-moo's estate.
A lower court ruled for Koo Kwang-mo in February, finding that the agreement dividing the inheritance was valid and that there had been no deception in the process. Kim and her daughters appealed, with the Seoul High Court set to hold its first preparatory hearing on Friday.
While that case was pending, Kim filed a separate petition in November 2024 seeking to end her legal adoptive relationship with Koo Kwang-mo.
Her legal team based the petition on Article 905 of South Korea's Civil Act, which allows an adoptive parent to seek judicial dissolution of an adoption in cases including serious mistreatment by the adopted child.
“Considering the actual relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant, we believe their legal mother-son relationship should be dissolved,” her attorney said after Thursday's ruling.
Thursday's rejection leaves intact the adoption that helped secure LG's fourth-generation succession, even as the family continues fighting in court over the fortune and legacy left by Koo Bon-moo.
AJP Takeaways
• The Seoul Family Court on September 3, 2026, rejected Kim Young-sik's petition to legally end her adoptive mother-son relationship with LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.
• Kim Young-sik, widow of former LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, filed the adoption-related case in November 2024 while separately disputing the division of Koo Bon-moo's estate with Koo Kwang-mo.
• Koo Kwang-mo is the biological son of Heesung Group Chairman Koo Bon-neung and was adopted by Koo Bon-moo in 2004 as part of LG Group's leadership succession.
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