When I first noticed LJ in Legend...I wondered how good she was to be in a drama with such well known actor, then in Beethoven virus, when I saw her cast in Athena, I was dismayed, because of her, I did not finish watching Beethoven virus. Something about her facial expression that puts me off watching her perform...sad & mysterious l blend with "attitude" that should be shed off when needs to in acting. But I tried to like her in Athena.

If couples have become unhappy in their marriage, they should end it after trying to make it work.
LJ must really want to move on with JWS so she must end it her famous husband. Hottie JWS must make her that happy...a novelty for now. Maybe they found their right match.

Only the couple concerned knows what goes on under the sheets or bedroom.
Hopefully all 3 will find happiness sooner or later.
LJ will certainly be more popular now. Depends how one judges her. Not easy to be a public figure & popular. A public figure should know that fans & the midia can make or break them, so they(publiic figure) need to be more responsible for/with their own actions. A price they pay for being popular, specially in show biz.

This piece of news really came out of nowhere!

Despite the press release of STJ and LJA's divorce, I doubt anyone would ever get the full picture of the entire affair. It's very easy for us to point fingers at any party and pass our judgment on him/her but the truth is, we will never know the truth unless the parties involved tell us their story.

Either take the press reports with a pinch of salt or let us withhold our judgment on the issue.

her agency such a liar.. from faking her background, her age, her name ( her name is kim sang eun not kim ji ah ).

key east saying they no nothing about her marriage, saying that lee ji ah was born in 1981 ( rumour has already been surfaced that she was born earlier ), that her education which she wasn't graduate or might be attend??..

1. i feel bad for her. getting married and not being able to tell anyone who your husband is and having to live in secrecy. this could make someone crazy.

2. i think hes disgusting for pursuing a 15 year old girl, if that was her age at the time - who the hell knows what her real age is. she said they first met in 93 and carried on a long distance relationship via letters and telephone before getting married in 97.

3. i dont understand why she filed for alimony and assets, especially in Jan of this year. Even if he reneged on their initial agreement and said he wasn't going to give her anything, was it really worth risking everything for 5 million dollars? especially since they don't have any kids together. i understand why she asked for the money back then but she doesn't need it now. she could've made so much more money throughout her career. i'm not sure if her career will survive this but its not looking good so i hope he pays up.

another thing - reports have said they didnt register their marriage in korea so is it even considered legal in SK? If not, how does she have any grounds to file for division of assets if they arent even legally married?

some reports have said it is because it was considered a common law marriage in SK but if she said she filed for divorce in the states by herself in 2006 so they didn't even live in korea. how many years do you have to live SK together to have a common law marriage?

Will now suspect half of all of them are married and the other half engaged, lol.

Totally Shocked! Unexpecting news! Perhaps the biggest scandal in the Korean Entertainment Industry! Totally outdid Jay's Controversy, MC Mong's Controversy, Tablo's Controversy, that prince from goong's controversy, and that girl that died from Boys Over Flower, and all those mini ones that we all forgot about as time passes by.

I am actually fond on LJA, and like her dramas but never would I've thought that she would be married to one of the biggest icon in KPOP Music industry and later be dating one of the hottest and most eligible bachelors/actors in the Korea Entertainment industry too.

Now, I can see why she got her first starting role in Legend. It finally makes sense now. Her husband probably pulled some strings because he is very good friend with her boss. There's no way that BYJ didn't know about the relationship between STJ and LJA. I'm pretty sure he knew and he covered it up for them both until now.

Before, like others, I thought that she was a rich-man's daughter like Phillip Lee, and her rich parents are living overseas in the US but now the rich one is her husband instead.

It's hard to believe that after about 10-14 years of marriage, there's no kids. There's must be a one or two kids living in America with either one of their relatives (probably grandmas and grandpas).

This is TOTALLY shocking news for everyone.

I mean it's really none of our business but when you're a celebrity, it's different because people will judge you no matter what. This did not just involved one big profile celebrity but three of them, all in the same sentence.

I can only hope that JWS knew about her past life before dating her, and that she told him about it first before he heard it from the media. It would suck if he dump her because of this, and claims that he didn't know anything just to save his reputation. If he really love her, he will understand and stay by her side. However, if he really didn't know and she lied to him then I suggest it's time for goodbye for both of them. Still, I really didn't think that LJA is a bad person.

I'll give her props for being able to keep her marriage a secret for almost 14 years. Not a lot of people can do that. In addition, her husband is non other than STJ, one of the biggest star in Korea ever. Imagine if you were his wife and he constantly travel to other places, while claiming that he's still single and all the while you're stuck at home, perhaps just waiting for him to come home every once in a while. I don't think I would be able to do that.

If you look at it this way, LJA or her company lied about everything when she first started out as an actress (her age, her marriage, her educational background, her name, etc...)

Still, I will wait for more information and see what's going on!

I really hope that there's no children involved. I understand that her agency came out and said that there's no children involved, but at this part you'll never know because if they were able to keep their marriage a secret for 14 years then they might be able to hide even more secrets that we don't know of.

Aish! This is annoying because we don't know which is truth! Oh well, just have to wait for another update...

After calmly processing all the news and new information flooding the media yesterday, I begin to sympathize more with Lee Ji Ah. In the end, the one who take the biggest blow in this situation is the woman. I hope Jung Woo Sung won't dump her for this and they will stand strong through this whole debacle. (although the future doesn't look very bright :( ) I mean, Nicholas Tse can forgive his wife for even a more horrible mistake so why JWS can't? What she needs the most at the moment is the love and strength from her fans and her beloved ones. LJA, I wish you the best and hope that the public will have a more tolerable view towards your situation.

What has been on my mind since is a suicide comitted by Jiah. I hope she stays strong and won't do that because it's stupid. God bless her and all that's distressed by this..

@ Ranl92 Hear! Hear! It's not right to accuse Lee Jia only. After all the huge korean celebrity scandals, it's not right to add fire to what's already blown out. And we also don't know the whole truth so what's the point of calling out names? It only hurts the ones who are caused by this. We don't want any more tragedies!

I thought it was already mentioned that they are divorced a few years ago but this case was about alimony. Where is all this talk about adultery and cheating coming from?

I'm not in anyone's camp but putting all the blame to Lee Jia seems unfair. We have no idea what went behind the scene and I just can't stop wondering why Seo Taiji, a celebrity who has been famous for so many decades had to keep his marriage a secret?!

does this mean jws ad campaign in LG fridge with kth got frozen?

I shall REALLY respect JWS if he sticks it out with LJA .. instead of denied and leave her.. we shall see. Life depicting 'drama' :)

woah this is shocking news, i was just reading it also from the hancinema daily that i received this morning & even JSW it says in the article was shocked to learn about her relationship with song! that means she's hiding it from him till the news came out, meaning? he learned about it from the scoop? that's sad! i believe JSW is really single which is 'never been married'? i think this is the talk of the town in SK now.

WHAT THE HELL!?!?
lol omg im in shock O.O
my mom and I always used to wonder how a nobody kept on getting these lead roles. im not saying shes a bad actress, but she wasn't amazing wen she first started.
geez...

i think ppl r being a bit biased…no?? if NO ONE knew abt her secret marriage how then would she hav used it to her benefit to “climb up the ladder” for her roles…i guess being a public figure u have to become transparent and have no personal secrets but i fail to understand why no one is even concerned abt seo taiji…he was married secretly too no? and she was not even known then and it was kept a secret...possibly becoz he wanted it that way so it doesn't effect his career...so why is it bad for her and may hurt her career but not affect him in the slightest? and if Jung Woo Sung is indeed “in love with her” he would be able to forgive her and deal with it…bcoz come on they have only been dating for a short while and this is apparently a big deal for her to hav hidden from ppl…mayb she wanted to make sure he was the one b4 spillin all her secrets…i am not a fan of her or anything but really this is way too much…i really hate how everyone is painting her out to be some evil person…

Good Gawd.

More shocking than the news itself, is reading all these deluded gullible horrifying people coming out saying oh poor Seo Tai Ji and poor Jung Woo Sung.
Bad Lee Jia for duping everyone. And she must be a gold digger, for wanting alimony.

Why the dislike for Lee Jia? Even when news broke she was going out with JWS .. people disliked her.
So why the support for the already 2 successful well-loved males? Does anyone know them personally to know they deserve our support instead?

Their mess itself is horrific to them.
Stop the lynch mob judging please. Stop casting more stones. Stop the hypocritical pretentiousness.
Would anyone feel happier if she committed suicide as a result? Would that redeem her then?

= Try instead imagine investing 14 good years of your youth as a female, without being able to acknowledge you have a husband (and his emotional support) besides you. Don't forget, you have to reject all male suitors in the meantime too. You are taken, although in reality you live as though you were single (or a single mother - if those 2 children exist).
Meanwhile Seo Tai Ji si also a carefree single to his fans, developing his career ... and whereabouts unknown. Free to come and go as he pleased, despite being married. Can $5 million compensate for any emotional hell, and those 14 yrs?

= Or try re-thinking this happened to your sister, your daughter, your wife, your gf.

Hullo ... so you seriously believe every single word you read from all the agencies? The spin-doctoring packaging experts themselves? Their job is to package their stars so they look and sound good.
Even if the words came out of the stars' mouiths themselves, real people in life lie and manipulate the truth/situation all the time, you know. The most charming liars are the ones that sway an audience ultimately. Whether it's really the truth or not, doesn't matter. WAKE UP!

Are our own lives so sad and blah that we have to hang onto other people's? And then feel cheated that stars actually have a private life we know nothing about???

Lying about her age and relationship status is NOTHING. Its actually quite common for korean celebrities. A good amount of actors and singers lie about their age, their past, their height, and so on. The "cleaner" and "perfect" they are, the higher they are in marketability. It's not them who decide to hide it, but sometimes even their agency will tell them to lie about their profile.

I sympathize with Lee because generally divorced women are looked down upon regardless of whose fault it was, or if no one was at fault at all. I think its quite sad and wrong that her career now hangs on a thread merely because of her divorce that happened years ago. She's the only one receiving all the fire while no one is saying anything about Seo Taiji.

I do not sympathize with JWS because she didn't cheat on him. All he has to worry about is his image. In a sexist society that looks down upon divorced women, she could have felt ashamed to tell him, or was waiting for a more comfortable and trusting time to tell him. Plus its not like western culture where you can just blatantly give out your life story to a stranger and whatnot.

LV is one of the spur of the moment things. You can do things secretly. U know the quote "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?" Well, what'd u know? It's like they were never married cause no one knows.

I do think in this case, everyone treats LJA unjust. Yes she lied, but she's not the only one. Why are we just firing at her and not her exhusband? Everyone seems to just dump their troubles onto her by denying knowing anything (if they did know that is: BYJ? JWS?).

She had to endure a unnormal marriage and she asks for $5mil and we call her a gold digger? If she was in the USA she'd get half of his assets. Her exhusband is really the only one who benefited from keeping a hidden marriage and now she has to suffer from it.

Think about it, if after her divorce she reveals that she was married to STJ and they are now divorced, who will get the bad publicity? The man who hid her under the covers or the woman who finally came out of the covers? Concealing the truth is just like pretending it never happened.

If JSW really did break up with her over this, it's understandable. It's really doesn't matter if he knew the truth or not. It appears like he took their relationship more seriously by bringing their relationship into public eyes.

Hello people??! How can it be adultery when they've already finalized the divorce in 2009, meaning they.are.divorced! As stated in the statement from keyeast "we would like to clearly state that the lawsuit they’re in right now is not a divorce lawsuit." Please READ everything before you start accusing people of adultery!

90% of the comments are on LJA, her agency and pulled BYJ into this mess, accused him as he has covered it up without any confirmation. When it comes to any famous scandal, one stone must throw upon BYJ to get the story more famous. Now where is the man who slept with her for 14 years? Where is Seo TaiJi? No one ask about him and his explanations. He needs a court order to reveal his side of story. He is a coward hiding himself under a young girl's skirt. May be she found out he is a gay and a famous coward. She is called a gold digger after 14 years of marriage, Evana Trump is also a gold digger from her ex bald headed husband. No one ever ask how did this woman help him out to become rich and stand by this coward for 14 years.

I can't believe all these nonsense that the agencies are putting out now.

She may be finding another love or better person to love her and all she had to do was tell her love the truth, be wise and dignified NOT to file for alimony NOW. Of the 3, she is the only one who dug herself into this poop-hole. She may be young, naive and innocent then and did all those things earlier (which I can forgive).

But at 30+, I would think that one would have to wise up by now and as a celebrity, popularity is crucial. Why open a can of worms by suing for alimony? How foolish.

What the experts from Korea says:

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2011/04/22/44/0701000000AEN20110422008800315F.HTML

If anyone from above comments is more than on par with these experts you can carry on with the discussions.^^
_____

Singer Seo, actress Lee had little choice but to keep marriage, divorce secret: experts
SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- With the shockwave from the news of an alimony lawsuit between Seo Tai-ji, an iconic South Korean musician, and Lee Ji-ah, a rising television actress, still reverberating, South Korean pop culture experts said Friday the two may have had little choice but to keep their marriage and subsequent divorce secret.

Read more.....

"Seo Tai-ji is the epitome of mystique and secrecy," said Shim Jae-cheol, professor of media studies at Korea University. "He may have wanted to stay mysterious forever. And in the 1990s, it wasn't considered as fashionable (for celebrities) to openly talk about marriage or relationships as it is today."

Jeong Jae-sik, a pop culture analyst, said Seo had almost been a "cult leader" among his hardcore fans and it was only a logical choice on his part to keep his marriage under the carpet and maintain his aura of secrecy.
"Losing that air of mystery is fatal to being a cult leader, because getting married is something an ordinary person does," Jeong said.
Read more...

Chung Ji-young, a film director who teaches media studies at Korea University, said marriage and divorce should be off-limits for public discussion, even if they involve high-profile figures.
"It's entirely a matter of individual choice whether (Seo and Lee) wanted to talk about their marriage," Chung said. "They must have agreed with each other to keep it a secret and we can't argue about that." The end.

The skeleton in the closet won't stay in the closet for long.

When she came back to Korea, LJA should have been more transparent and more open on what she was - her age, her failed marriage, her children and whatever else. From there, let her be judged not only as a person but her ability as an actress.

And yet, she came back with lies, and more lies.

Others keep on saying that it's her agencies fault, it's the fault of Korea's entertainment industry as a whole to have made her that way. I still believe that it does take 2 to tango, and all of these things and her molding into a supposedly perfect person is happening under her nose. She's no longer a teenie bopper but an adult woman who at that time would already be in her 30's. Life is full of choices and the path she chose was to lie as to gain success.

I know it is awful to blame LJA for all this conundrum, but looking at it on various angles, she is to blame.

She had chances to correct the wrong and yet she dug her grave deeper.

As for the new boyfriend, life hopefully would continue, assess his position and decide on where he fits in this mess. If he was lied to and tricked, then I won't be surprised if he would eventually cut all ties with LJA.

My 2 cents.

"Chung Ji-young, a film director who teaches media studies at Korea University, said marriage and divorce should be off-limits for public discussion, even if they involve high-profile figures.
“It’s entirely a matter of individual choice whether (Seo and Lee) wanted to talk about their marriage,” Chung said. “They must have agreed with each other to keep it a secret and we can’t argue about that.” The end."

Yes, I'll agree, until LJA decides to ask for 5M + alimony.

Hence, logic has shown that it was LJA's making that such private life which they would have wanted to make private is now a public issue.

she's NOT an adulteress!!! she has been separated to STJ for a while but because he wouldn't agree to a mutual divorce, she is taking him to court.

honestly, she lived 14 years in hiding because of him and i think she deserves more than 5 million dollars.

i seriously think STJ is a shadier person than lee jia is~

LJA, she lies about her background (marriage, age, etc…) at the beginning to become the actress. When she lies one thing, she can continue to lie other thing & I do not believe her story anymore. The divorce lasts from 2006 to 2009, such a very long time to get agreement about assets, money, spouse support (alimony). Now, near 3 years later, again, she sues her ex-husband for the additional money, she wants her ex-husband to support her about the money (alimony) and she wants to have her part in his assets. During the period she married him, he has been rich & she is a no-name. My part, I feel sorry for anyone who like, who will marry her.

Why shouldn't a woman who was married for 14 years to a man be not allowed to share part of his assets/money and get alimony? She was hardly married to him for 6 months. 14 years out of her life is nearly 1/3 of it. That's a very long time.

I feel sorry that it is always the women in these cases that get spoken about badly. I'm yet to read a real derogatory comment about her ex-husband. She's been called a golddigger, adulteress, etc etc etc.

Taber - wouldn't be surprised if it was done in US courts that the US courts had no rights to say anything over his Korean assets (which would be most of his assets/money) hence the need to go to a Korean court.

is she pregnant ?

WTF!! WHAT IS THIS ABOUT 3 KIDS WHERE ARE U PEOPLE GETTING THIS STORY FROM ??????????????

I wonder if most of the people commenting negatively on LJA even understand what alimony is

If she gave up her alimony in the past, why now she sues for alimony? She fight tough for assets, alimony, so her divorce took lasted 3 years.
She claimed her marriage existed by the common law, and she filed lawsuit in 2006 to make her marriage becomes legal. If at that time, they argued that she was the mistress, so her marriage will not become legal.
She now has rich boyfriend & she works as actress, she says she does not have any child, but she wants her-ex husband to support her, to give her some of hir assets & she asks for alimony, assets. What a terrible girl. Who will want to have the romance relationship with her, it's better to have her sign a prenuptial agreement before a marriage or keep the relationship as the boyfriend/girlfriend, not let her twist the relationship to the words "the marriage by the common law", so she can't claim your asset.

She's a mother....she lied, was married/divorced and is dating JWS...BEACHT.....that's all i gotta say...

I didn't like her in Beethoven's Virus...

A lot of people seem to really hate her. She must have done them wrong.. because if not, then where do all these hate coming from?

Mistakes here and there, isn't that what living is all about? And, really, who knows what ACTUALLY happened between them? Do you? So you mean you believed what the media told you? Haven't we learned enough from our dramas depicting private lives of high profile people?

I pity those who seem to be VERY affected when they're not even part of the issue. Yes, this is shocking news BUT, I really think we should do away with the bad mouthing.

The truth, LJA is a liar. She lies about her age, marriage, education, and a lot other things. I do not think anyone hates her, they just they the truth that she is a liar.
In my eyes, her acting is bad. She lies many things, so, the chance she will continue to lie is very high. I do not believe her.

It is a lesson for all of us, honesty is the best policy!! Let's put this matter to rest, it is really none of our business!!

Give them a break!!

(Phew!! what a relief!! I have sold off all Keyeast shares in Nov last year) ^___________^

Forgot to add, I believe, this LJA debacle is not as simple as what we see as lies and deception. I believe it is related to the merger and acquisition of United Asia Stars of Keyeast couple of diversion of attention of the insider trading news of the President Lee.

BTW, the CEO of Keyeast is the brother of LJA's former husband's manager. Hence, the whole debacle seems more complicated as what we seen. Hence, it tells a lot about the corporate governance of Keyeast.

It is best to stay out of Keyeast, unless the CEO is TooT!!

If her record is clean, she does not mind anyone digs in her past. It's because her past is dirty, so she minds a lot & says " do not dig, you have bad mouth".
If she gave up the alimony, his assets in the past, the divorce did not last 3 years to end. If no one struggle about money, divorce ended soon. In the past, she must struggle a lot to have some of his assets, alimony. But, it is not enough, she seems to want more now.
If it is true that she wants to give up or have less money, the lawsuit will end quickly & smoothly. She was the person who filed the complaint at Court. She now has rich boyfriend, she works as actress, if it is true that she does not care about his money, just drop the lawsuit now.

At around 19 year-old, she is the no-name, who is lucky to have the relationship with a rich, famous man. Did he marry her legally or he just lived with her on & off because he stayed sometime in Korea, sometime abroad, etc... and then she claimed it was the marriage by common law? Why does attorneys argue the situation of the mistress & the marriage by common law. The mistress can not share any asset.

ok...sorry but this sounds like a marriage for money...and she's using it on another man.

Very interesting to read all of you guys' comments although looks like I'm very late to the game.

I never knew either that LJA was so unpopular amongst viewers - anyhow I hope her career does not disappear overnight since I was kinda hoping for a BV Season 2!

Btw, I didn't think her acting was that bad in both Four Gods and BV. I think a lot of netizens (not necessarily on here) mentioned that she is not pretty etc - I don't think she is ultra gorgeous but she is sweet and looks appealing :D so I guess I can stomach her..maybe it helps that I'm not a fan (usually) of her leading men er with the exception of KMM of course! :D

wow..... what a shameless woman.

:( It's sad to see how LJA are being condemned so badly.. I was a great fan of hers, and will definitely continue to be. She might have her troubles & reason for her action, no one knows how her relationship with her husband was which made her turn towards another guy, but damn, her life must have suck right now.. :( Hope she will overcome all the bad moments

Everytime i go through celebrity scandals online i get a headache. Whether she tells a lie about her age and whatever or not,is not something that should concern. She shot to stardom suddenly? Please , she did her Job really really well and that is what should concern us. Without our dissecting their lives like insect for surgery ,i would like to believe that every active parting involved her are going through a lot. so can we humans be kind enough to keep our opinions to ourselves? really please.