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Samsung son-in-law appeals divorce ruling

February 4, 2016

Im Woo-jae, ex-husband to a Samsung Group heiress, arrives at Suwon District Court south of Seoul to file an appeal against an earlier ruling on the terms of his divorce, on Feb. 4, 2016. Im married Lee Boo-jin, the oldest daughter of Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee, 17 years ago. The lower court in January granted the divorce filed by Lee and gave her sole custody of the couple’s son. (Yonhap)

(Yonhap) — The ex-husband of the eldest Samsung Group daughter, who is CEO of the group’s Hotel Shilla affiliate, filed an appeal Thursday against the terms of the divorce ruling handed down last month.

Im Woo-jae, an adviser at Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., filed the petition at the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Court, located south of Seoul, 20 days after the court accepted the divorce claim filed by Lee Boo-jin.

The court awarded parental rights and custody of their elementary school-aged child to Lee. Im was given rights to visit his son once a month.

“I will do my best to receive a ruling based on facts in the appeals trial,” Im told reporters after submitting the document.

Regarding the division of property, Im said he never thought about the matter as he wants to protect the family.

“Most of my family members, including my father, had no chance to meet my son since his birth in 2007 till he became 9 years old in 2015 when (I) was approved of the visitation right,” Im said in a statement, adding he cannot accept the biased ruling in regards to his son.

The appeals trial will be held at the Suwon District Court.

The couple is known to have met in 1995, and their marriage four years later drew much public attention at the time. 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.

Im, 48, was an executive vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., an equipment-making arm, from 2011 to 2015.

This is not the first divorce in the Samsung Group’s owner family. Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. and heir apparent of the conglomerate, was also married before splitting with his wife in 2009.