Hwang Jae-gyun Purchased Signiel Residence 1 Year Before Marriage
Classified as Separate Property... High Probability of Exclusion from Division
Short Marriage Duration Results in Low Contribution to Delay
Professional baseball player Hwang Jae-gyun (37, KT Wiz) and group T-ara's Ji-yeon (31) are facing divorce after two years of marriage, drawing attention to the division of their assets.
According to the certified copy of the register, Hwang Jae-gyun purchased a 62-pyeong (exclusive area 205.32㎡) unit at Lotte Signiel Residence located in Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, in December 2021 for 6.7 billion KRW under his name. He took out a loan of about 3.5 billion KRW at the time and fully repaid it in September of the following year. Signiel Residence is a luxury residential complex with a total of 233 units on floors 44 to 71 of Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in Korea and the 7th tallest skyscraper in the world. Currently, the listing price for this unit ranges from 7.7 billion to 10 billion KRW.
The couple married in December 2022 and lived there for about one and a half years. However, since Hwang Jae-gyun purchased the house one year before marriage, it is likely classified as his separate property and excluded from the division of assets. Furthermore, given the short duration of the marriage, Ji-yeon's contribution to asset formation was minimal, so the property presumably remained under Hwang's ownership. It is reported that they agreed on the division of jointly formed assets or income during the marriage, but the specific details or proportions of the division have not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, rumors of their divorce first surfaced in June when commentator Lee Kwang-gil mentioned it. During a broadcast of the SSG Landers vs. KT Wiz game, Lee said during the inning break advertisement time, "Did you know? Hwang Jae-gyun got divorced," causing controversy. He later apologized, saying, "I heard about the divorce news from a newspaper before the broadcast. It was wrong to speak without confirmation. I am truly sorry." Shortly after, Ji-yeon announced a suspension of her YouTube activities on her social media, stating, "Due to personal reasons, it will be difficult to upload videos for a while."
Later, in September, Hwang Jae-gyun was spotted at a bar in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, gathering with acquaintances including women until around 6 a.m., which sparked further attention. Ji-yeon, who had not commented on this, resumed her YouTube activities by uploading new videos but was seen not wearing her wedding ring. Eventually, it was revealed that the two submitted a divorce mediation application to the Seoul Family Court in September and began divorce proceedings. Their divorce was recently finalized after the mediation was successfully concluded.
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