Court: "Late Bang Yong-hoon, Former President of Koreana Hotel, 'Residential Intrusion'... State Compensation to Sister-in-law's Couple"

Court: "Case dismissed due to poor investigation, 80 million won compensation for severe mental damage"

The couple of the late Bang Yong-hoon, former president of Koreana, who filed a lawsuit against the state claiming damages due to a negligent investigation into the charge of trespassing, won again in the second trial.

According to the legal community on the 7th, the Civil Division 18 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Jeong Jun-young, Min Dal-gi, Kim Yong-min) ruled partially in favor of the plaintiffs, ordering the defendant to pay the plaintiffs a total of 80 million won and delayed interest in the lawsuit filed by the couple of the late Bang against the state.

The court stated, "The plaintiffs submitted CCTV footage clearly showing Bang’s trespassing act, but the police conducted the investigation based solely on statements that directly contradicted the video content, leading to the case being dismissed without prosecution," and judged, "The plaintiffs must have suffered significant mental distress."

Furthermore, the court ruled, "Consideration must be given to the damages the plaintiffs suffered due to property damage and trespassing by Bang and others, as well as the fact that it took six months from the dismissal of the case to the re-investigation and summary order."

Bang was booked on charges of trespassing into the second-floor corridor of his sister-in-law Lee Mo’s house in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, in the early morning of November 1, 2016, along with his son. Bang’s son reportedly told the police that he visited to protest because he suspected his aunt Lee had posted rumors related to his mother’s death on social media. Bang’s wife had jumped into the Han River in the early morning of September 1, 2016, and was found dead the next day. The police concluded it was a suicide.

In November 2016, Lee filed a complaint with the Yongsan Police Station against Bang and his son for trespassing and other charges. The police forwarded the trespassing case against Bang with a recommendation not to prosecute. The prosecution, citing insufficient evidence, cleared Bang of charges and issued a non-prosecution disposition for his son. When Lee appealed, the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office ordered a reinvestigation in February 2017, and the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office subsequently issued summary fines of 2 million won for Bang and 4 million won for his son.

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