34 Years to Strangers — Inside Korea's Biggest Divorce Case

Decoding Korea Podcast · Ep.05

Native-speed Korean, fully explained in English · August 2026

A rich couple got divorced. That's it — that's the whole event. And yet the entire country watched it, searched it, and argued about it for years. Thirty-four years of marriage, about nine years in court, and a property settlement of 944 billion won — roughly $700 million, the largest in Korean history.

But the money isn't the story. The story is that public opinion swung overwhelmingly to one side, even though both people were wealthy and powerful — and that to explain why, Koreans reached back for a word from the Joseon era. This episode walks through what happened, how Koreans reacted, and the one untranslatable word underneath it all.

1. Why Koreans call it "the divorce of the century"

00:42 Why they call it "the divorce of the century"

Three numbers set the scale: 34 years of marriage, about 9 years in court, and 944 billion won in property division. The story starts in 1988. The groom was Chey Tae-won, son of SK — one of Korea's leading chaebol conglomerates. The bride was Roh Soh-yeong, daughter of Roh Tae-woo, who was the president at the time. The wedding was held at the Blue House, the presidential residence. A chaebol's son and a president's daughter, married at the president's house. It reads like a drama. It isn't.

The legal timeline is long. Chairman Chey filed for divorce first in 2017; Roh Soh-yeong filed her own suit in 2020. In May 2024 the appeals court ordered a property division of 1.3808 trillion won plus 2 billion won in alimony. In October 2025 the Supreme Court confirmed the alimony but sent the property division back to be recalculated. On July 24, 2026, the reopened trial produced the number that made headlines: 944 billion won. One important caveat from the episode — the case isn't completely over. It could go back to the Supreme Court.

2. How Koreans reacted — and why only one side

02:36 How Koreans reacted

Every time news broke, this case was the talk of the country. On ruling days it was the number one search term. An entire nation watching a stranger's divorce — and, more strangely, taking a side. Public opinion leaned heavily toward Roh Soh-yeong, even though neither person is an ordinary citizen and both are wealthy.

The trigger was timing. While the divorce case was still going on, Chairman Chey appeared at an official event with his new partner. Photos were taken; it made the news. The court also made a related finding: there had been an extramarital relationship, and responsibility for the marriage breaking down lay with Chairman Chey — the same conclusion in both the first trial and the appeal. And then Koreans reached for a very old word to describe the new partner: 첩. Tingssam is careful about this in the episode: those aren't her words, that's what public opinion called her, and 첩 is a Joseon-era term almost nobody uses today.

3. The real story — 조강지처, and three layers underneath

03:58 The real story — 조강지처

Start with the gap in how people see it. Non-Korean friends usually say something like: "The marriage was over. Why is it a problem that he found someone new?" That's a fair way to see it. Koreans said something else entirely: "He abandoned his 조강지처."

조강지처 means a wife who struggled with you when you were poor. And the word comes with a rule attached: you must never abandon her. This isn't law — it's an old sentiment out of Confucianism, and it is still very much alive. That's the heart of the case. No matter how rich you are, you can't beat this sentiment; not even a chaebol chairman. Whatever gets said in court, this is the word that surfaces in people's minds first — which is exactly why a Joseon-era word like 첩 came back with it.

Under that sit two more layers. First, history: a chaebol family's son and a president's daughter, married at the Blue House in 1988, at a time when big business and political power in Korea were close. This marriage was never only about two people — it's a scene from modern Korean history, which is part of why the reaction was so large. Second, the actual legal question: are company shares property the couple built together? Chairman Chey grew the company. Roh Soh-yeong kept the home and supported her husband — 내조 in Korean. Can 내조 be counted in money? In the past, the answer was no. This case decided it could be seen as property they built together. That's why this isn't divorce news. It's a signal that Korea's view of marriage is changing.

4. Today's expression: 조강지처 & 남남이 되다

06:32 Today's expression

조강지처 is a wife who struggled with you when you were poor — and carries the meaning that you must never abandon such a wife. One word explains the entire public reaction to this case. A warning before you use it, though: people don't say it often in everyday conversation. It feels a bit old-fashioned, and you'll mostly hear it in the news or from older people. Still worth knowing — it shows up in Korean dramas, and words like this let you see how Koreans feel.

One more: 남남이 되다. 남 means a stranger, so 남남이 되다 means to become strangers to each other. It's a common expression in Korea when people talk about divorce. Which gives the story its closing line: two people who were 조강지처 became strangers. After 34 years.

Key Korean Expressions

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