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93 - a heavy heart to carry

Han Daily Radio Transcript

■ Broadcasting : HD Radio FM 93.5 (20:20~21:00)
■ Broadcast day : 2021 05 14 (Saturday)
■ Presentor: Host Bae Sung-joo
■ Guest: Cho Young-nam

[New Media Trend]

◇ Bae Sung-joo> Today's hot topic: VitaPacific's youngest daughter files for divorce, ending an eight-month marriage. Today, I'm here with business insider Cho Young-nam.

◆ Cho Young-nam> Hello, it's good to be here.

◇ Bae Sung-joo>Mr. Cho, this is a surprising news following the 'wedding of the century' between Ms. Seo of VitaPacific and news anchor Mr. Noh.

◆ Cho Young-nam>Perhaps it was inevitable but much earlier than expected. We suspected this to happen when VitaPacific made changes to Mr. Noh's holdings. You remember how the Chairman awarded his former son-in-law 100000 shares.

◇Bae Sung-joo>Right. The couple married in October in Shilla Hotel and their marriage drew attention because it was called a "Cinderella" story where the youngest daughter of a super-rich conglomerate weds an anchorman.

◆ Cho Young-nam>Haha, yes that is what it's called. But it's the other way around because the "Cinderella" is a man this time.

◇ Bae Sung-joo>But the fairy tale ended too soon did it not?

◆ Cho Young-nam>It did, and sadly these pairs are more prone to separation than a happy ending.

◇ Bae Sung-joo>Why do you think this is so?

◆ Cho Young-nam>Conglomerates have a very strict code of conduct that all family members must abide by. These 'outsiders' have to adapt themselves to their spouses' unique, secretive ways. The pressure is very stressful. They have to watch themselves, act in a discreet manner but at the same time be out in public by attending all sorts of ceremonies and events. For their far-richer partners, the expectations are also high. It's not surprising how a study by CEO Score last year showed that chaebols tend to keep marriages in the same league because the lifestyle change would not be too drastic.

◇ Bae Sung-joo>There's a study like that?

◆ Cho Young-nam>Yes, it's from a local corporate data tracker that studied marriage cases in 55 conglomerates, almost 49% of 320 or so names intermarried within rank. And interestingly, the trend is stronger among the younger generation.

◇ Bae Sung-joo>How about marriage with say, well, normal people like us?

◆ Cho Young-nam>Let's call it 'middle-class' *laughs*. It's really rare, around 12%?

◇ Bae Sung-joo>And many of them like with our ill-fated couple now ended in divorce?

◆ Cho Young-nam>Yes, largely because of the enormous gap in their family backgrounds. It is also a messy affair. You remember the heiress Ms. Lee who divorced her employee?

◇ Bae Sung-joo>Her bodyguard was that?

◆ Cho Young-nam>Officially, it's an "employee of a security service affiliate." Ms. Lee was ordered to pay her former husband 14 billion won after a counter suit. The divorce settlement dragged on for 6 years.

◇ Bae Sung-joo>Safe to say her former rank-and-file employee had a lot to gain from the marriage...This must be why this new Cinderella story ended so quickly.

◆ Cho Young-nam>It's also better to end before a child is born. That would be another mess. There is also speculation that the relationship was already rife from conflict from the start, because the parents allegedly disapproved of the marriage.