Lu Suying and Choi Tae-won
In 2019, Roh So-young, daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, filed for divorce in a Seoul court.
Her husband, Choi Tae-won, was asked to sign the divorce agreement and pay the maintenance, company stock and marital property he had received over the years of marriage, totaling RMB8.4 billion.
When the couple first married, they were an enviable couple of gods, and the marriage of the president's daughter and the rich businessman was supposed to symbolize a bright future.
What made the two of them go from a happy marriage to a court of law? All this also began with Lu Suying's father, Lu Taiyu.
Political marriage of the president's daughter
Roh Tae-woo was born in 1932 to a peasant family in The South Korean city, but his father served as the local township secretary, so the family has always lived a carefree life.
When he was 7 years old, his father died suddenly and unexpectedly, and Lu Taiyu was raised independently by his mother. Lacking the love of his father since childhood, he has become cautious and steady, and he is very introverted.
In 1951, Roh Tae-woo entered the Daegu Gendarmerie School for further study, and in September of the same year, with excellent completion results, he won the appreciation of the school leadership and successfully stayed in the school as a teaching assistant, with the rank of second-class sergeant.
Lu Taiyu
With the support of the Director of Instruction, he also applied for the Korean Army Non-Commissioned Officer School and became the 11th cadet of the school, officially starting his military career.
Four years later, Lu Taiyu graduated from the Army School and was assigned to the 5th Infantry Division of the Central Front as a captain, and was awarded the rank of second lieutenant. It was also here that he became acquainted with the future President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee.
On May 31, 1959, Roh Tae-woo and Kim Uch-sook, a college student at Gyeongbuk University Normal College, married and gave birth to a daughter, Lu Su-young, two years later.
At that time, Lu Taiyu already had a very rich resume, and even studied in the United States for half a year, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
When Lu Suying was 6 years old, Lu Taiyu was already a lieutenant colonel in the capital infantry division, and Lu Suying could be described as the "second generation of the army" born with a golden spoon.
Although he has enjoyed the best social resources in Korea since he was a child, Lu Suying did not choose to be a stupid child.
She perfectly inherited her father's courageous and desperately climbing up, and has always been strict with her own conduct.
The influence of the family environment had a key impact on the direction of Lu Suying's life, and her mother was a very rare college graduate of that era.
For her, her mother was her role model, and when she was 18 years old, she was finally admitted to Yonsei University in South Korea, standing at the same starting point as her parents.
After going to college, Lu Suying did not relax in the slightest, and has always maintained the study habits of high school.
And her college life was very simple, even though her father had been promoted to the rank of general, she never revealed her family background to others.
Such a strict daily habit of self-discipline allowed her to rise in academic progress, and after graduating from Yonsei University, she was admitted to a master's degree from Stanford University in the United States.
Lu Suying could not imagine at that time that the academic qualifications she had worked so hard to obtain would bring her a very tortuous life in the future.
While studying in Chicago, Lu Suying met Choi Tae-won, who was also a Korean student.
In the 1980s, international students were very rare talents, and it was very unexpected for both of them to meet a hometown confidant in a foreign country.
The two young men soon became good friends and often discussed their studies together or traveled together.
Although Cui Taiyuan has no military and political background, he is a proper "rich second generation". His uncle was the founder of a Korean consortium, and now the famous Korean chaebol group, SK Group, is his family business.
Because Choi Tae-won was flexible from an early age and had excellent grades, he was appointed by his family as his future successor when he was a teenager.
But the love of the student years was pure, and it is said that the two did not take the initiative to disclose their family background at that time, and interacted like a normal couple until the two graduated from college in 1988.
On February 25, 1988, Roh Tae-woo delivered an inaugural speech at the Blue House and was successfully elected as the 13th President of south Korea.
It is also this incident that directly promotes the development of the relationship between Cui Taiyuan and Lu Suying, and when the two just graduated, Cui Taiyuan proposed to Lu Suying.
In the same year, the two held an extremely high-profile and luxurious wedding, "the daughter of the President of South Korea married the successor of the Korean chaebol", which is undoubtedly a blockbuster news.
Many people are optimistic about this pair of golden children, but this seemingly beautiful marriage, in fact, how many elements of love there are in it, may only be known by the two parties themselves.
Although the two have a certain emotional basis, this wedding that takes the timing just right is more like a "political marriage".
The new president, who has just come to power to form the Sixth Republic, is in dire need of the support of a powerful domestic consortium.
And a local chaebol who is eager to gain a firm foothold in the storm of the presidential change has also found a solid backer for both the military and the government to eat.
Compared with feelings, the blending of interests is the most reliable means of stabilizing marriage. Whatever the starting point, the result at that time was indeed a win-win.
After marriage, Lu Suying chose to be a full-time wife and devoted herself to the life of her husband's godson, but she never forgot to promote her husband's career.
In order to make her group go to a higher level, she often blows the "wind in her ears" with her father Lu Taiyu and asks him to "take care" of Cui Taiyuan's career more.
At that time, it was the golden age of South Korea's economic development, and Roh Tae-woo vigorously promoted the democratization movement in office, which promoted the liberalization and development of Korean enterprises in disguise, and the total GDP value continued to rise, and the economic growth rate was extremely fast.
In this environment, the SK Group, which had a good development prospect, and with the help of the president, the products quickly opened up in the domestic market.
At that time, SK's products covered almost all state-owned projects, and the profit points were very high.
And whenever the government is about to implement a new policy, Roh Tae-woo will inform Choi Tae-won in advance, so SK can always be one step ahead of others and stand on the huge cusp of South Korea's economic development.
It is precisely because of this black box operation that SK Group has expanded rapidly in just five years, becoming one of the four top consortiums in South Korea, standing on the same height as South Korea's Samsung Group.
After his father stepped down, he endured for 11 years
If this kind of thing continues, South Korea will even become the back garden of The Roh Tae-woo family, but this kind of collusion between officials and businessmen will not last long.
On February 25, 1993, because Roh Tae-woo had been pursuing the democratization process in South Korea, he could only face the party's opponents from a "neutral" position, and could not appoint a presidential successor.
This led directly to him losing the fourteenth presidential race and having to take a back seat and become a member of the Constitutional Council.
This was a turning point in the fortunes of Theok Tae-wook family, whose political career suffered Waterloo, but son-in-law Choi Tae-won's SK company was in an important period that was about to climb to the top.
The company's telecommunications industry has grown into the country's largest operator in just three years, all thanks to Lu Taiyu's power.
The sudden resignation caused SK to lose its protective umbrella, and a huge cloud hung over the road of SK's future development.
Many shareholders of SK Company have competed to become the head of the wall after learning that Lu Taiyu's campaign has failed, planning to withdraw their shares.
Fortunately, in the past few years, SK has grown into a towering tree, and breaking a few branches will not be life-threatening.
In this way, SK survived two years of losing the asylum of the president.
However, the balance of fate has always been balanced, and Lu Taiyu's family has become more beautiful by relying on the black box operation, and will definitely be punished in the future.
On October 29, 1994, the new government designated the regime established by Lu Taiyu as a "military regime" and Lu Taiyu as guilty of rebellion.
In addition, the new president Kim Yong-sam also found out that Roh Tae-woo took advantage of his position to collect 500 billion won as a political donation during his term of office and hid 170 billion won of it in his pocket.
On November 16, 1995, Roh Tae-woo was arrested by the South Korean Inspection Agency, and his cases of embezzlement and bribery, divulging important state secrets, and trading power and money in violation of the law during his term of office were filed and examined.
On December 16, 1996, after countless fierce battles in front of and behind the scenes, Roh Tae-woo was sentenced to 17 years in prison and fined 262.896 billion won.
Another former president, Chun Doo-hwan, was also affected by the investigation and sentenced to life imprisonment. The case, which brought two former South Korean presidents to court, has been called the "Trial of the Century to Correct History."
After Lu Tai was imprisoned, Lu Suying changed from "daughter of the president" to "daughter of a historical sinner" overnight, not only her social status dropped sharply, but her status in the family became sensitive.
Since 1997, Lu Has been aware of the side effects of political marriages — that is, when one party loses its usefulness, the other party will not hesitate to treat it coldly.
Lu Suying's status in the in-laws' family was much worse than before, and Cui Taiyuan gradually began to give her advice. She was no longer the "little princess" she had been held in the palm of everyone's hand, and she didn't even dare to speak out loud when she was at home.
On the other hand, Cui Taiyuan's family was not affected by this storm to a great extent, after all, for the development of SK Company, Lu Taiyu's father and daughter had already gambled everything.
After Lu Tae-woo was imprisoned for a year, SK had even expanded to the size of the group, and At this time, Choi Tae-won no longer needed the help of Lu Suying's family.
In this way, Lu Suying spent six years in the Cui family for the sake of her newborn son.
In 2003, Choi Tae-won was imprisoned for illegal stock trading, and as a wife, Lu Suying could only constantly seek help from politicians so that her husband's case could enter the second-instance trial stage.
Blessings are not double, and misfortunes are not alone. At this juncture, Lu Suying's son was diagnosed with diabetes, and Lu Suying, who was already helpless, could only walk between the court and the hospital every day.
The two most important men in her life needed her help at this time, and she handled the affairs of her husband and son at the same time like a tireless warrior.
A few months later, Lu Suying finally released her husband from prison on bail, and her son's diabetes was successfully controlled by insulin treatment, but Lu Suying did not regain a happy life.
Because after Cui Taiyuan was released, he did not thank his wife for what he did, but instead took these things for granted, and even after squeezing out the value of his wife, he began to look for flowers and willows outside.
In 2008, Choi Tae-won was not satisfied with the daily wind and snow, and he directly raised a Korean-American named "Kim Hee-young".
Because of Kim Hee-young's gorgeous appearance, she is deeply loved by Choi Tae-won, and the two even completely ignore Lu Su-young, live together in a very high profile, and even give birth to a daughter.
It was impossible to hide this from Lu Suying, but Lu Suying herself knew that at this time, she was completely helpless in the face of her husband who controlled a huge business empire, and could only endure it as if nothing had happened.
Kim Hee-young
In 2010, Choi Tae-won's personal wealth had reached $20 billion, and by this time he had completely regarded Kim Hee-young as his wife in the palace, and even opened a company for her to take care of herself.
Jin Xiying obviously also hopes to gain fame, she plays the emotional card to the outside world, often holds public welfare charity activities in the name of the company, and establishes a very good image in the society.
Seeing that his new wife is getting better and better, Cui Taiyuan also moved the mind of "letting Xiao San take the position".
After learning of Choi Tae-won's thoughts, Lu Suying pleaded bitterly with Choi Tae-won not to divorce.
He even publicly issued a statement saying that he was willing to accept the illegitimate daughters of Choi Tae-won and Kim Hee-young, and as long as the two did not divorce, they could take the illegitimate daughter home and raise them by themselves.
But this humble act did not arouse Choi Tae-won's conscience.
In 2015, he published a newspaper in the South Korea Daily, saying that he had developed an emotional gap with Lu Suying for more than a decade, and he only wanted to divorce and start a new family quickly.
Creating the most expensive divorce case in Asia
After making the statement, Choi Tae-won moved out of his home and officially lived with Kim Hee-young.
He often spends billions of won to buy luxury goods for Kim Hee-young, attends any occasion with Kim Hee-young, and often praises Kim Hee-young in front of the media, completely ignoring Lu Su-young.
This open secret is known within the SK Group.
But Lu Suying still chose to stick to the marriage, and Choi Tae-won twice filed for divorce with Lu Suying in 2015 and 2017, but she refused.
At this time, some people began to speculate that Lu Suying was not so humble in love, she just wanted to maintain her material life.
We can't guess Lu Suying's inner thoughts, but Lu Suying, who has always been "humble", suddenly took the initiative to apply for divorce to Cui Taiyuan in 2019 and issued a very meticulous property division plan.
She asked to take away 40% of The SK Group shares in Choi Tae-won's hands after the divorce, which is equivalent to 9% of the total shares of SK, worth 1.38 trillion won, almost more than 8 billion yuan, basically tearing the control of the SK Group in half.
Since then, Choi Tae-won has to pay himself 300 million won in maintenance every year. If this agreement is reached, it will be the most expensive divorce lawsuit in Asia.
In this regard, Lu Suying said: "I have endured silently for more than ten years because I take care of the feelings of my children, and now that my three children have grown up, there is no need for me to maintain this sad marriage." ”
Lu Suying and Choi Tae-won have two daughters and a son, and the three children graduated from university in 2017 and entered the management of SK Group and gradually gained a foothold.
It was the independence and encouragement of the children that gave Lu Suying the courage to file for divorce.
According to South Korean law, if two people have been married for more than 20 years, they need to divide the property in half when divorcing, and Lu Suying's divorce agreement is reasonable.
Choi Tae-won was momentarily confused and began to hastily sell his fixed assets and stocks, but this behavior was soon discovered by the South Korean people, and public opinion was in an uproar for a while.
In April 2020, the divorce case of the century officially began, but within ten minutes of the trial, Choi Tae-won's lawyers called off the lawsuit and delayed it until today.
Since then, the wind of public opinion in South Korea has changed greatly, and many people have begun to spit on Choi Tae-won's chaotic and Kim Hee-young's three behaviors.
Lu Suying's willingness to even raise illegitimate children in order to defend his family and marriage has won the sympathy and support of the masses.
We can't predict the final outcome of this lawsuit, but those who start chaos and abandon it, cross the river and tear down the bridge will definitely not get a good ending.
Resources
[1] "Shanxi Evening News", "South Korea's most scummy chaebol and mistress openly cohabited, the wife endured 7 years of humiliation and tore up tens of billions of family property..."
[2] Global Network, "South Korea's Top Official Rich Second Generation Divorce Case Begins trial, only 10 minutes to adjourn"
[3] China Times, 8.4 billion "breakup fees"! The actual controller of SK Group revealed that he had an illegitimate daughter, and the former president qianjin endured for 4 years to agree to divorce"