Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal by Son of Singers Hong Seo-beom and Cho Gap-kyung in Common-Law Marriage Breakup Case

A damages suit filed by a former daughter-in-law against the son of singer couple Hong Seo-beom and Cho Gap-kyung for the termination of a common-law marriage has been finalized as originally ruled, requiring the payment of 30 million won in alimony and 800,000 won per month in child support.

On the 10th, the Supreme Court issued a dismissal without examination for the final appeal filed by the former daughter-in-law against Hong, the son of the Hong-Cho couple.

A dismissal without examination is a system that immediately dismisses an appeal without reviewing the merits when it is determined that there are no special legal grounds for the appeal, thereby finalizing the lower court's partial ruling in favor of the plaintiff.

Previously, the former daughter-in-law met Hong, a high school teacher and the son of the Hong-Cho couple, through an acquaintance in August 2021 and married him. She filed a lawsuit in 2024, stating, "Just a month into my pregnancy, my husband began having an affair with a fellow teacher at the same school, leading to the breakdown of our marriage."

It was later reported that Hong's actual partner in the affair admitted to the relationship to the effect that "we didn't meet every day, but when we did, we committed adultery."

Meanwhile, Hong argued during the trial that "there was no infidelity, and even if there was, the marital relationship was already in a state of breakdown," but his claims were not accepted.

Both the first and second instance courts ruled that the responsibility for the breakdown of the relationship lay with the husband, Hong, and ordered him to pay 30 million won in alimony to his wife along with 800,000 won per month in child support for their child.

During this process, the former daughter-in-law of Hong Seo-beom and Cho Gap-kyung sparked widespread controversy by exposing online that "the couple knew about their son's affair and turned a blind eye."

At the time, the Hong-Cho couple issued an official apology, bowing their heads and stating, "Thinking that we should respect the privacy and autonomy of our adult son, we did not intervene in the divorce process," while adding, "As parents, we deeply regret our shortcomings in failing to closely examine our child's faults."

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Kim Bok-hyung | Graphics by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.