It has been reported that Seo Taiji and Lee Ji Ah are battling it out in the courts for a divorce. The couple, who has been married since 1997 stunned the public when the news broke because their marriage wasn’t public knowledge. There has been public speculation that her relationship (which was just announced to the public last month) with her Athena co-star, Jung Woo Sung is the reason for their marriage to have ended in divorce.

According to an insider to the lawsuit, Lee Ji Ah is asking for 5,000,000,000 Won settlement and that Seo Taiji is refusing to accept it. The second trial for the ex-couple was held last April 18th at the Seoul Family Courts and it seems that both sides are fully prepared as they each have three to four lawyers representing them.

Not a lot of details are known at this point since the news just broke a few hours ago and also because both Lee Ji Ah and Seo Taiji were very careful in keeping their matters under wraps.

Lee Ji Ah, whose real name is Kim Ji Ah and is currently 33 years old (as opposed to her public age of 30), kept her private and public life separate, making it especially difficult for the public to gather personal information about her. Even Jung Woo Sung, who she currently has a relationship with, apparently did not know that she was married. This was revealed in a statement by Jung Woo Sung’s agency, Key East after the news broke. Unfortunately, neither Lee Ji Ah, Seo Taiji or Jung Woo Sung were available for a statement.

UPDATE

Nearly 24 hours after the news broke out, things have started to clear up a bit. The ex-couple are embroiled in a lawsuit for settlement and division of property and that the trial dates were on March 14, April 18 and that the third trial date is set on May 23. A source also stated that only their team of lawyers were present in the trial dates and that they did not know the couple’s real identities.

A couple of hours after the news broke out in April 21, however, Lee Ji Ah, through her management company, Key East  finally made an official statement, stating that they “were young and truly loved each other” and that they got married in 1997.

In 1993, Lee Ji Ah left South Korea to further her education in the U.S. and shortly after, met Seo Taiji through a friend at a Korean music festival. Since Lee Ji Ah lived in the United States and Seo Taiji in South Korea, they kept in touch through letters and phone calls. In 1996 , Seo Taiji retired from the music industry and moved to the U.S. and it is said that she helped him adjust to life in a different country, and shortly after, got married in 1997 and resided in Atlanta and Arizona.

In 2000, Seo Taiji went back to South Korea to make a comeback in the industry, while she was left alone in the U.S.; after which, she went back home to Korea in 2004, starred in a commercial and eventually became a celebrity after meeting Key East’s CEO, Yang Geun Hwan. Because of differences in their personalities and lifestyles (he a celebrity, and she, a non-celebrity), she then filed for divorce in 2006, which was eventually finalized in 2009.

The official statement given by Key East also denied that they had any children, contrary to rumors floating around stating that they had two daughters and that it was difficult for her to let anyone know of her marital status since he is a very famous celebrity while she was just debuting back in 2004.

Sources: Nate, Soompi, allkpop, Sports Seoul + Naver, Korea.com, Donga, JoongAng Daily, HanCinema, Asia Economy for photos.

This has got to be the biggest (REAL) SCANDAL in Kpop as of late. No one had any idea they were married and everything is just messy!