Appeals court dismisses petition to retrieve assets taken by late President Park

A Seoul appeals court on Wednesday dismissed a petition to retrieve lost inheritance by the family of a deceased Busan businessman whose assets they claimed were forcibly taken by late authoritarian leader Park Chung-hee five decades ago.

Upholding a lower court's ruling, the Seoul High Court ruled against the six family members of Kim Ji-tae, the businessman and a two-term lawmaker in the 1950s, saying that Kim still had some freedom of decision over his assets after being coerced into donating to a controversial scholarship foundation established by the late leader.

The Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation was built in 1962 largely with Kim's assets that were forcibly transferred to the state following a 1961 military coup led by Park. It has been an ongoing source of criticism by liberal politicians against incumbent President Park Geun-hye, the daughter of the late strongman, for her ties to the foundation.

While the court did agree that Kim, who died in 1982, was forced to surrender his property under pressure from military officers, it didn't "recognize that the degree of compulsion was high enough to completely deprive Kim of his own right to make a decision," Judge Kim Chang-bo said in his ruling.

The court also said that the statute of limitations for laws under which Kim's family could have annulled the donation or demanded compensation for the forced donation has already expired.

In 1962, Kim transferred his 100 percent stake in local newspaper Busan Daily, the major TV broadcaster MBC and its regional station in the southern port city of Busan to the state treasury in return for lifting charges of illegal wealth accumulation made against him.

The assets were used to set up the scholarship committee, initially named the May 16 Scholarship Foundation after the 1961 military coup.

It was later renamed to Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation after a letter each from the first names of the former president and his wife Yook Young-su. The foundation now holds the 100 percent stake in the Busan-based newspaper and a 30 percent share in the broadcasting company.

During her presidential campaign, President Park insisted she no longer had ties to the foundation, though her critics said it remained essentially under her control. (Yonhap News)