Elderly Woman Wins Divorce Suit In Appeal Court

A 71-year-old woman who filed a divorce lawsuit against her husband, aged 91, in a bid to end her 40-year-old marriage with him has won the suit in an intermediate appeal court.
The woman lost the divorce suit in the first trial held in September 1998.
Seoul District High Court ruled on August 25 that the plaintiff and her husband should be divorced in accordance with her wishes, saying that the defendant must give his wife 50 million won in compensation, along with 300 million won in cash and a third of his real estate worth 1.5 billion won.
The court also said in the judgement that the defendant, who had shown an authoritative and oppressive attitude to his wife during his married life, bears more responsibilty for their divorce than the plaintiff.
The woman sued her husband after he donated all his real estate to a university excluding one billion won out of his life savings in 1997.
Seo Jang-soo:jsbee@joongang.co.kr