What happened:

South Korea’s Supreme Court dismissed the ex-husband’s appeal, finalizing the appellate ruling in a divorce dispute tied to public “affair” allegations involving Choi Jung-won (former UN member).


Bottom line:

With the appeal dismissed, the wife (referred to as A) is widely seen as having fully shed the “affair” stigma that had followed her for years.


How this started:

In January 2023, the husband (B) publicly claimed his wife (A) had an affair with Choi Jung-won and released materials (e.g., recordings/“statements”), then said he filed a ₩100 million damages claim against Choi.


Choi Jung-won’s position:

Choi denied the affair, saying A was not an ex-lover, but rather a family acquaintance / “younger neighborhood friend” known for a long time.


Parallel criminal complaints:

Choi and A filed criminal complaints against B (alleging things like threats/defamation/insult).

B also filed a criminal defamation complaint against Choi.

According to the report, police closed B’s complaint with no charges, and Choi’s complaint also ended without prosecution.


Trial court vs. appellate court:

1st instance (family court): found A had lied and met Choi, and held A primarily responsible for the marital breakdown, ordering ₩30 million in consolation damages.

Appeal: reversed. The appellate court said it was hard to conclude that A and Choi engaged in “improper conduct” rising to the level of Civil Act Article 840(1) (i.e., adultery-type misconduct) or that it caused the marriage breakdown.

Instead, the appellate court pointed to the husband’s coercive/pressuring behavior during the conflict as a key driver of the breakdown.


Supreme Court reasoning:

After reviewing the decision and appeal grounds, the case did not meet the statutory requirements for a successful Supreme Court appeal under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Procedure for Appeal to the Supreme Court.

Appeal costs were assigned to B.


After the ruling:

A posted on social media that she had waited over four years, criticizing being labeled as an adulterer and saying she was relieved to be free from it.


Why it matters:

A reminder that in family-law disputes, courts often separate:

Suspicion/rumor from legally provable misconduct, and

“Messy relationships” from the strict threshold for “improper conduct” that legally breaks a marriage.


Also shows how appeal filters can end a long-running public controversy without the Supreme Court re-trying the facts.

Article: https://www.hankyung.com/article/2026011643127