LG Chairman Hospitalized
LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo is hospitalized at Seoul National University Hospital and his family members and close relatives are making visits, signaling that he is in a critical condition. His brother Koo Bon-neung, chairman of Heesung Group, and his daughter-in-law are reported to have stayed at the bed side.
At about 12:30 pm on May 17, the Heesung chairman visited the room. He is the birth father of Koo Kwang-mo, the heir to the hospitalized chairman who now works as an executive director of LG Electronics. Due to the family tradition of LG that the first son becomes the successor of the group, the group chairman, who had no son, adopted Koo Kwang-mo as his son and trained him as his successor.
A middle-aged woman who came out of the private ward at 1 pm introduced herself as a direct relative of the chairman. The woman said in grief, "The chairman’s health deteriorated severely. I couldn’t do anything but massaging his feet."
Chairman Koo had surgery for a brain-related illness twice last year and has been staying at Seoul National University Hospital since then. In the local business community, there have been talks that the chairman’s condition is critical since the surgery. LG Group announced that the chairman is “currently under treatment.”
With the worsening health of chairman Koo, LG is speeding up the process to nominate his successor. In the morning of May 17, the board of directors of LG Corp., the holding company of the group, convened to appoint Koo Kwang-mo as LG Corp.'s registered director.
Koo Kwang-mo is the eldest son of President Koo Bon-moo and the only successor to LG Group. LG Corp. will hold a general meeting of shareholders on June 29 and will name him an inside director.