The petition for a “Goo Hara Act” started by the brother of the late singer Goo Hara will now be reviewed by a standing committee of the National Assembly.

Following a legal dispute over Goo Hara’s inheritance within their family, Goo Hara’s brother Goo Ho In has been fighting to change inheritance laws in the name of his sister. Currently, Goo Hara and Goo Ho In’s mother is claiming the right to half of Goo Hara’s inheritance, despite having abandoned the siblings when they were young and given up her parental rights and custody.

Due to current law, even parents who did not personally raise or provide for their children are able to receive their inheritance, except in extremely rare cases such as murder or the falsification of a will. This has meant that parents who abandoned their children can return and claim their inheritance after their death. Goo Ho In has described how this occurred to families of the deceased during tragedies such as the sinking of the Sewol Ferry and Cheonan.

Goo Ho In and his lawyer are therefore working towards establishing a “Goo Hara Act” that would expand the reasons for disqualification to an inheritance so that it includes those who are substantially negligent of their duties to support direct ancestors or direct descendants.

In addition, it’s aiming to change legislation so that the inheritance division takes into consideration how much co-inheritors provided for the deceased relatively, in comparison with each other.

Although any change in legislation would not apply to their own family’s case, Goo Ho In is aiming to prevent future tragedies like what their family is suffering through.

A legislative petition was filed on the presidential Blue House website on March 18 to call for a “Goo Hara Act.” Such petitions require 100,000 signatures from citizens within 30 days in order to be evaluated by the National Assembly.

On April 3, the petition reached 100,000 signatures, and it therefore has been submitted to a standing committee of the National Assembly. The petition will be reviewed by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

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