Jung Tae-young, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Card, Loses to Siblings in Lawsuit Over 'Parents' Condolence Guestbook Disclosure'

원본보기 아이콘

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Gyumin] Jung Taeyoung, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Card, lost a lawsuit that arose from his refusal to disclose part of the guestbook list from their parents' funeral to his younger siblings.

The Civil Division 12 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Sung Jiho) announced on the 5th that it ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, Jung's two younger siblings, in a lawsuit filed against Vice Chairman Jung demanding the delivery of the guestbook on the 1st.

The court stated, "In general Korean funeral etiquette, it is considered polite to prepare a place to express gratitude to the mourners or to send thank-you notes," and "It is common practice to separately record and verify the funeral guestbook and the list of wreath senders."

Furthermore, the court explained the reason for the ruling, saying, "Unless there are special circumstances, the guestbook and the wreath sender list should be accessible and available for copying by all the deceased's children."

Vice Chairman Jung's mother, Mrs. Cho, and father, Jung Kyungjin, chairman of Jongno Academy, passed away in February 2019 and November 2020, respectively. After the funeral procedures, Jung's younger siblings asked him to show the funeral guestbook, but Jung reportedly only handed over part of the list of mourners who visited his siblings.

In response, the siblings requested copies of the guestbook twice, in December 2020 and January of last year, but were refused, leading them to file a lawsuit in February of that year.

During the trial, Vice Chairman Jung's side argued, "The list of mourners recorded in the guestbook is merely simple information and cannot be considered shared property, so the siblings' right to request disclosure of information cannot be recognized," and "Mourners leave records with the intention of providing personal information only to a specific bereaved family member they intend, granting that person permission to collect and use it, so the request for disclosure is an unfair claim that infringes on the data subject's right to self-determination."

Meanwhile, Vice Chairman Jung previously filed a lawsuit against his siblings in September 2020, demanding 200 million KRW out of 1 billion KRW of their mother's inheritance.

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.