The husband of Lee Boo-jin, the eldest daughter of Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, has reportedly refused to sign divorce papers after they failed to agree on custody and parental rights for their son.

“Lee’s husband has no intention to divorce and nothing has changed from his stance,” his lawyer told reporters.

Im has refused to give up legal guardianship and parental rights of the two’s 9-year-old son, but this is the first time for him to publicly announce that he does not want a divorce. 

Hotel Shilla CEO Lee filed for divorce against her husband Im Woo-jae, senior vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, at Suwon District Court in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, last October.

The move came only five months after her father and Samsung group patriarch Lee Kun-hee was hospitalized following a heart attack in May.

The couple has failed to reach a compromise through mediation.

Currently, Lee has legal guardianship over their son, while Im has visiting rights twice a month.

Im was spotlighted by the media in 1998 when he married the Samsung group heiress as an ordinary employee at a Samsung affiliate company. The two first met at a volunteering event organized by Samsung in 1995.

If the couple gets divorced, it will mark the second divorce among the Samsung chairman’s three children. Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong, Boo-jin’s older brother, split up with Lim Se-ryeong in 2009.

Lim was rumored to have sought 1 billion won ($860,000) in alimony and claimed for division of property worth 500 billion won.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)