Jeon Du-hwan Daughter-in-law Annex Seizure Cancellation Lawsuit Final Defeat... Supreme Court "Seizure Justified"

Former President Chun Doo-hwan, who served as the 11th and 12th president, passed away on the 23rd at the age of 90. The former president, who had been suffering from chronic illness, died around 8:40 a.m. at his residence in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Former President Chun collapsed inside his home and was reported to the police and fire department at 8:55 a.m., with the police confirming his death around 9:12 a.m. The photo shows the residence in Yeonhui-dong on the day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Lee Yoon-hye, the daughter-in-law who owns the annex of former President Jeon Du-hwan's Yeonhui-dong residence, has lost the final lawsuit she filed in opposition to the prosecution's seizure.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) on the 28th upheld the lower court's ruling that dismissed Lee's appeal in the lawsuit she filed against the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office seeking to nullify the seizure order. The court accepted the lower court's judgment that "the real estate in question (the annex) was acquired as illegal property when Jeon's brother-in-law (Lee Chang-seok) paid the winning bid in a compulsory auction procedure using Jeon's slush funds, and the plaintiff acquired the property knowing these circumstances, so the seizure order is lawful."

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office seized Jeon's Yeonhui-dong residence in 2018 and put it up for public auction after Jeon failed to pay the 220.5 billion KRW in fines confirmed by the Supreme Court in 1997. The residence was auctioned off the following year for 5.137 billion KRW through the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO)'s public auction agency. In response, Jeon's family filed objections to the criminal trial execution with the court, and daughter-in-law Lee filed an administrative lawsuit, initiating a legal battle.

Lee filed an administrative lawsuit against the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office and KAMCO, requesting the cancellation of the seizure and auction of the annex registered under her name. Among the Yeonhui-dong residence, the main building is registered under Jeon's wife Lee Soon-ja's name, the garden under the secretary's name, and the annex under daughter-in-law Lee's name. Lee also lost the administrative lawsuit against KAMCO, with the Supreme Court confirming the lower court's ruling against her in April. Meanwhile, the auction of the main building and garden was canceled after Lee Soon-ja and others won their lawsuit against KAMCO in March. Jeon paid only 124.9 billion KRW of the 220.5 billion KRW fine by the time of his death last year.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the Supreme Court confirmed a partial victory for a domestic trust company in a separate lawsuit it filed against the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office seeking to nullify a seizure order. The trust company had entered into a real estate collateral trust contract in 2008 for buildings owned by Jeon's family in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and forest land in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, and registered ownership transfer. When the real estate was seized in 2013, the trust company filed an objection. The Seoul High Court ruled in November 2019 that the seizure of the Yongsan-gu building in 2013 occurred before the enforcement of the special forfeiture law related to official crimes, which allows confiscation of illegal property from persons other than the perpetrator, and the Supreme Court upheld this ruling.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.