South Korea’s government said Friday it has appealed a British court’s decision to reject its lawsuit to reverse an international tribunal court’s order to pay about US$100 million in damages to the U.S. hedge fund Elliott Investment Management.

The case began in June last year, when the South Korean government was ordered by the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) to pay $107.8 million, including damages and interest, to Elliott in a dispute stemming from the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung Group affiliates.

Then the Seoul government filed a lawsuit with a British court the following month, claiming the PCA ruling should be overturned due to a jurisdiction violation based on the provisions of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement (FTA).

But the British court dismissed the suit in August this year, saying it has no jurisdiction over the case.

The South Korean government said it filed the appeal with a higher British court on Thursday after concluding through consultations
with law firms and external experts that the August ruling contained serious errors in the interpretation of the Korea-U.S. FTA.

The government said it will do its best to correct the British court’s dismissal in the upcoming appeal procedures, due to concern that the case will have a negative impact on similar cases in the future.

Source: Yonhap News Agency