Incheon Airport Wins Final Lawsuit Against Sky72

Sky72 Golf Course in Yeongjongdo, Incheon, recorded sales of 61.3 billion KRW last year. It has been the top golf course in sales for eight consecutive years.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Incheon International Airport Corporation has won the final verdict in lawsuits regarding the delivery of the Sky72 Golf Course real estate.

On the 1st, Incheon International Airport Corporation announced that the Supreme Court panel (Special 2nd Division / Ma) ruled in favor of the corporation in both the ‘real estate delivery lawsuit’ (2022Du43283) and the ‘confirmation of obligation to negotiate lawsuit’ (2022Du45258) related to the extension of land use period, which were appealed by the golf course operator.

Through this Supreme Court ruling, the original court decision ordering Sky72 to deliver the land and buildings to the corporation and to carry out the registration procedure for ownership with a time condition was finalized. The lawsuit filed by Sky72 against the corporation, claiming extension of the implementation agreement and other matters, was dismissed.

In the related lawsuits, the corporation won all cases in both the first and appellate courts. Sky72 had filed an appeal on May 24. As a result, with the legitimacy and legality of the corporation’s business procedures recognized in the lawsuits filed by the operator contesting the appellate court’s decision, the unauthorized occupation incident of the Sky72 Golf Course, which lasted over two years, is expected to come to an end.

Despite the implementation agreement with the corporation having ended at the end of 2020, Sky72 claimed ‘possession of golf course facilities’ based on the right to claim purchase of structures and the right to claim reimbursement of beneficial expenses, as well as ‘non-termination of the agreement’ due to the corporation’s failure to negotiate the extension of the land use period. Consequently, they illegally operated the golf course by refusing to hand over the land and facilities free of charge for a period of one year and eleven months.

Based on this Supreme Court ruling, the corporation plans to proceed with enforcement regarding the land and facilities and hand over the Sky72 Golf Course, which has been occupied without authorization for one year and eleven months, to the legitimate successor operator (KMH Shilla Leisure Consortium) to promptly normalize golf course operations.

Additionally, the corporation plans to actively pursue a damage compensation lawsuit for over 100 billion KRW in unpaid rent over two years, caused by the golf course operator (Sky72) who continued unauthorized occupation and operation of the golf course site.

Kim Kyung-wook, President of Incheon International Airport Corporation, stated, “The principle of restoring contractual order has been finally confirmed through the court’s rational judgment in the appeal trial,” and added, “During the period until the current operator of Sky72 Golf Course ceases operations and the successor operator takes over and begins operations, special caution from golf course users is necessary.”

Meanwhile, the appellate court decision on the lawsuit filed by Summit, which lost the bid for the successor operator of Sky72 Golf Course, claiming ‘invalidity of bidder selection and confirmation of bidder status,’ was finalized as no appeal was filed. With this Supreme Court ruling, the two major legal disputes surrounding Sky72 Golf Course have all been concluded.

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