While the world is busy battling the highly contagious coronavirus, others are embroiled over their own family disputes fuelled by greed.
This time, it’s none other than Goo Hara‘s family members who are fighting over the assets that she left behind.
Family of K-pop Star Goo Hara Fighting in Court for Her Assets After Her Death
According to TODAYOnline, Goo Hara’s older brother is currently embroiled in a battle with their mother in court.
The reason for this is that their mother reportedly wants half of Hara’s assets.
Lest you’re unaware, Goo Hara is a famous K-pop Singer who made her debut with KARA in 2008 and went solo in 2016.
She was found dead in her home in Seoul on 24 November 2019.
Six months prior to that, Hara’s manager found her unconscious at her home following a suspected suicide attempt.
She left behind a short but cryptic message on her Instagram shortly before she was found unconscious, with the word “Goodbye”.
The Family Feud
Fast forward four short months after her death and her older brother Goo Ho In, 30 is currently involved in a court battle with their estranged mother.
Their estranged mother has reportedly demanded to keep half of Hara’s assets for herself.
Why Ho In Wants To Stop His Mother
Ho In has revealed why exactly he thinks that his mother isn’t deserving of the assets.
For starters, their mother allegedly abandoned him and Hara when they were only nine and seven years old respectively.
However, she had allegedly appeared at Hara’s funeral and insisted on being the family’s chief mourner, and the other family members did not allow this to happen.
She had also allegedly asked celebrities at the funeral for photos. Not exactly the best time and place to be asking for selfies.
“She was holding her phone in an odd way, and it turns out that she was filming a video,” said Ho In. “It seemed like she was collecting evidence (of some sort), hence we took her phone away and deleted the video.”
He continued, “I only heard about this later on, but the person who was asking celebrities at the funeral for photos was, unfortunately, our mother.”
Just two days after the funeral, Ho In was at the lawyer’s office where two people told him that they were his mother’s lawyers.
That was when he found out that his mother wanted to battle for half of Hara’s assets.
Hara’s Assets
Goo Hara had reportedly owned a 3.2 billion won (~S$3.7 million) building in Nonhyun-dong.
She also owned a loft apartment which is reported costs more than 1.2 billion won (~S$1.4 million)
That’s a total of almost S$5 million of assets, and we’ve not included other tangible assets.
Korean Law Says Parents Will Receive Assets Of Late Children
Hara and Ho In were brought up by their grandmother as their father worked in construction sites all over Korea in order to support the family.
It’s believed that their father has given his 50% share of Hara’s estate to Ho In.
Lest you’re unaware, under Korean law, parents will receive assets of their late children even if they didn’t raise or provide for them.
However, there are exceptions such as murder or other unusual cases like falsification of a will.
“Goo Hara Act”
Currently, Ho In and his lawyer are establishing the “Goo Hara Act” which will disqualify family members who have neglected their duties towards their parents or children.
The Act also asks for the assets to be divided according to how much care the beneficiaries provided for the deceased.
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The petition has since attained over 100,000 signatures and has been forwarded to the National Assembly for evaluation.
