Kim Kwang-seok's daughter, heir to his song copyrights, died in 2007, and her mother told no one for ten years

The folk singer Kim Kwang-seok died at his Seoul home in 1996, aged 32. Police concluded suicide. Friends said he had asked for a divorce the day before. His death led to a long legal fight between his widow, Seo Hae-soon, and his family. His father received the property. His daughter, Kim Seo-yeon, received the song copyrights. In 2017 it came out that the daughter had died in December 2007 of acute pneumonia. Her mother had said she was living in the United States. Kim's family said the copyrights had been moved into Seo's name and that she hid the death to keep the royalties. On 30 August 2017 the journalist Lee Sang-ho released a film naming Seo as the prime suspect in Kim's death. Lee and Kim's brother, Kim Kwang-bok, accused her of abandoning her sick daughter, and prosecutors reopened the case. On 10 November 2017 police said the girl had Kabuki syndrome, died of a lung illness, and received CPR from her mother. They found Seo had no legal duty to tell the court of the death and recommended no indictment. In May 2019 the Seoul Western District Court ordered Lee, Gobal News and Kim Kwang-bok to pay Seo 50 million won for defamation. Kim's 1996 death remains recorded as suicide.