Lim Woo-jae, the husband of Samsung Group chairman’s daughter who is currently in a divorce trial, appears to have been fired, with Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an affiliate under Samsung Electronics, terminating his contract as an adviser to the company.

According to Samsung officials, Lim was notified by the company last month that his one-year contract had been terminated. With the end of the contract, he has become a part-time adviser, widely seen as the final step for a Samsung executive before completely leaving the company. 

Lim joined Samsung as a personal body guard to the firm’s Chairman Lee Kun-hee in 1995. In 1999, he married the chairman’s eldest daughter Lee Boo-jin, now the CEO and president of Shilla Hotel.

He climbed the corporate ladder, serving as the vice president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics. But he stepped down from the post in December 2015, a year after Lee Boo-jin filed a divorce suit in 2014.

Lee had won the first trial at the Suwon District Court, which granted her both parental rights and custody of their son. Lim appealed and separately filed a divorce suit to the Seoul Family Court, demanding Lee split her assets. An appeals court in Suwon annulled the previous decision and sent the case to the family court in Seoul. The case is still on trial. 

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)