Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Late K-pop artist Goo Ha-ra / Korea Times file |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Late K-pop artist Goo Ha-ra's brother is currently in a legal battle with their estranged mother over the singer's estate.
Her elder brother Goo Ho-in has filed a legal suit against their mother seeking a ruling on the division of the K-pop star's inheritance.
Their mother, who abandoned them as children, has appointed legal representatives to acquire 50 percent of the inheritance on the basis that she is Ha-ra's biological mother.
Under Korea's current law, even parents who have not taken care of or lost contact with their children have the right to inherit half of the deceased child's estate.
Goo, the former member of K-pop girl group KARA, was found dead in her home in Seoul in last November at the age of 28.
She had suffered from depression due to excessive online bullying and a legal battle with her ex-boyfriend, who threatened to leak sex tapes he recorded without her consent.
Goo Ha-ra's brother came out against their mother through his legal representative, saying her request cannot be accepted because she left them when they were young.
"Mr. Goo was shocked by his mother's unreasonable demands, and has thus decided to file a lawsuit against her," Roh Jong-eon, an attorney at law firm S representing Ho-in, said in a press release, Thursday.
"Their mother surnamed Song left them when he was 11 and Ha-ra was nine, and didn't contact them for nearly 20 years. They both suffered traumatic childhoods due to their mother abandoning the family."
Earlier in an interview with local broadcaster SBS, Ho-in said, "Two days after Ha-ra's funeral, I was contacted about an inheritance issue regarding my sister's estate. They were my mother's lawyers. That's when I realized that she'd appointed lawyers to go after Ha-ra's inheritance."
According to Ho-in, his father agreed to give him 50 percent of Ha-ra's inheritance as he felt sorry for spending his entire life working and not being able to carry out his role as a parent to his children.
While their father had to travel all across the country to financially support the siblings, the two were taken care of by their grandmother and aunt.
Lawyer Roh added, "Ha-ra's mother should express her deep condolences rather than claiming her daughter's inheritance."
Goo debuted as a member of the girl group KARA in 2008. After the group disbanded in 2016, she went on to be a popular solo artist in both Korea and Japan.
