[Sportschosun Reporter Lee Ji-hyun] As interest continues over the inheritance of the late Seo Hee-won’s estate, attention is once again focused on reports that she left a note on her phone outlining how her assets should be distributed while she was still alive.
According to Taiwan’s Mirror Weekly and SETN, which cited the report, Seo Hee-won is said to have recorded details related to the distribution of her estate in her phone’s memo app before her death.
The report said she intended to leave most of the wealth she built over her lifetime to her two children, and that she also wrote that her daughter should inherit the jewelry she cherished during her lifetime. The memo reportedly also included consideration for her husband, Koo Jun-yup, and her family.
In particular, the size of Seo Hee-won’s estate has drawn major attention in Taiwan. Local media have estimated her assets at at least NT$1 billion, or about 46 billion won, while some analyses put the total at around 133 billion won if a luxury home in Taipei, other real estate, investment assets, and divorce-related property division are included. However, these are all estimates from local media, and no official figure has been confirmed.
The phone memo in question is said to be a personal note rather than a notarized legal will, leaving open the question of whether it will be legally recognized in the actual inheritance process. So far, neither Koo Jun-yup nor Seo Hee-won’s family has issued an official statement on the memo’s existence or contents.
Earlier, Seo Hee-won’s mother sparked controversy in an interview after claiming that she had "not inherited a single penny" from her daughter’s estate and mentioning the house where she currently lives. In response, the side of her ex-husband Wang Xiaofei issued an official statement through legal counsel, saying that many of the claims were untrue.
Wang Xiaofei’s side explained that under Taiwan law, two-thirds of Seo Hee-won’s estate will be inherited by her two children, while the remaining one-third will go to her spouse, Koo Jun-yup. It added that the inheritance shares for the two minor children are being managed through trust accounts, and that it will respect Koo Jun-yup’s decision regarding his share. It also said it continues to cover the mortgage on the Taipei home where Seo Hee-won lived during her lifetime and that it has no plan to force her mother-in-law out of the house.
Meanwhile, SETN reported that Koo Jun-yup’s legal representative and the attorney representing Seo Hee-won’s children are scheduled to appear in Court next week to begin mediation proceedings for the division of the estate.
Seo Hee-won died in February from complications of pneumonia caused by influenza while traveling in Japan. She married Chinese businessman Wang Xiaofei in 2011 and had one son and one daughter, but the couple divorced in 2021. She later reunited with Koo Jun-yup, her former boyfriend from more than 20 years ago, and married him in 2022.
olzllovely@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
