Revealing about Squid Game Lee Jung Jae’s rich background before the family went bankrupt, and the love story with the ex-wife of the president of SAMSUNG.
By now, you’ve probably heard of a little South Korean drama called Squid Game, which is dominating Netflix Top 10 charts — as well as conversations and social media feeds — all over the world.
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Naturally, the show’s overwhelming success has turned its stars into overnight sensations, with Lee Jung Jae, who was already a respected actor long before the series existed, being propelled to a whole new level of fame and popularity.
Born into a wealthy family of doctors and brewery owners, Jung Jae, 48, enjoyed a privileged childhood, but his family fell into huge debts after his grandfather tried and failed to run for congress four times.
As a result, he had to drop out of school and started working at a café, where his good looks and height caught the attention of a designer.
Jung Jae then began modelling and made his acting debut in 1993 drama Dinosaur Teacher.
In 1999, at age 26, he became the youngest person to win Best Actor at the Blue Dragon Film Awards for his role in City of the Rising Sun.
While he experienced a bit of a career slump in the late 2000s, a resurgence soon followed thanks to projects like The Thieves, Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds, and Chief of Staff.
Jung Jae’s doing pretty well in other areas of his life too.
Together with his best friend and fellow actor Jung Woo Sung, they founded their own management agency Artist Company and own a combined 45bil won (S$51.5mil) worth of real estate.
By the way, that’s almost as much as what the players stand to win in Squid Game (the cash prize is 45.6bil won, or S$52.2bil), so Jung Jae, who also reportedly has an annual income of NT$100mil (S$4.9mil), is definitely someone who doesn’t need to go through those sadistic games to get rich.
Who’s the lady in his life?
For those who are wondering if he’s single, sorry, Jung Jae is very much taken.
In 2015, he went public with his relationship with businesswoman Im Se Ryung, who is the eldest daughter of the chairman of Korean food giant Daesang Group.
Yup, this basically makes the 44-year-old a real-life chaebol (business conglomerate) heiress, not unlike the uber-wealthy characters often depicted in K-dramas.
Lim Se Ryung, born in 1977, is a lady born from the finish line. She is the eldest daughter of Mr. Lim Chang Wook – chairman of one of the largest corporations in Korea – Daesang Group. Currently, she is the vice president of Daesang.
Typical tycoon marriage
With such a background, Lim Se Ryung of course received the highest level of education from a young age. According to Korean media, Lim was accepted to study business at Yonsei University – one of the three most prestigious universities in Korea, but she later dropped out after marrying her ex-husband. She continued her college education at New York University, where she completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
In 1998, when she was only 21 years old, Lim Se Ryung married Samsung crown prince Lee Jae Yong, who was 9 years older than her. It is not difficult for people to realize that this is a “political” marriage between the two largest and richest families in Korea. According to the media, from an early age, Lim Se Ryung caught the eye of Mrs. Hong Ra Hee – wife of former President Lee Kun Hee, mother of Lee Jae Yong. Even though they were matched according to their parents’ wishes, the couple also had time to learn about real dating. The two got married after more than a year of dating.
At this time, Lee Jae Yong is preparing to study in the US after receiving an MBA in Japan. To follow her husband to America, Lim Se Ryung agreed to drop out of Yonsei University. The couple has two children: son Lee Ji-ho (born 2000) and daughter Lee Won-joo (born 2004).
The marriage of the Lim family and the Lee family has of course consolidated power and brought many benefits to both Daesang and Samsung. Despite the color of “political marriage”, Lim Se Ryung seemed to have a peaceful family life in the beginning. She decided to settle down as a wealthy daughter-in-law to take care of her family and not pursue her own career. During the time her father-in-law was sick, the Samsung family’s head-in-law was always on duty to take good care of him.
But this seemingly perfect marriage ended unhappily. In 2008, the couple separated and officially divorced in 2009. The divorce procedure was resolved quite quickly. Insight Korea reported that Lim requested 100 billion won (about 1,600 billion VND) in alimony from her ex-husband. In return, she lost custody of her two children because they are the next heirs to Samsung Group.
Return to building your own life after divorce
From a young lady who settled behind the scenes of Korea’s richest family, after the divorce, Lim Se Ryung returned to being the heiress of her own family. She began serving the group as a creative director in 2012. Three years later, she was promoted to the role of executive director and currently, Lim Se Ryung is leading Daesang Group as deputy director. Chairman from March 2021.
Currently, her ex-husband Lee Jae Yong is Chairman of Samsung and also the richest billionaire in Korea. She herself also became a “strong woman”, had her own empire and was happy in her new love.
Lim Se Ryung has been dating famous actor Lee Jung Jae for the past 7 years. According to Sportskeeda, the two first met in 2005 through a mutual friend, but by this time Lim Se Ryung was married so the two were just friends. After that, Lee Jung Jae acted in an advertisement for Daesang Group’s products and they were destined to be together. At first, Lee Jung Jae suffered a lot of criticism because he was thought to be with a woman for money and power. By 2021, with his role in the blockbuster Squid Games, Lee Jung Jae became globally famous and their relationship gained even more attention.
