The lawsuit between Seo Tai-ji and actress E Ji-ah ended as E withdrew the suit on Saturday.

E’s law firm, Barun, announced on Saturday that she has decided not to go ahead with the lawsuit because of the psychological pain the actress and her families and friends had to go through after her private life went public. She had initiated a suit in January requesting 5 billion won in a property settlement and 500 million won in alimony from her former husband.

If Seo agrees to the withdrawal or does not raise an objection within two weeks, the withdrawal will be confirmed. E is currently unreachable, according to Key East, E’s agency.

Before the announcement by Barun, Seo spoke up for the first time also on Saturday about his relationship with E via an official statement released by his agency, Seo Taiji Company. 

While admitting that the two had married in October 1997, Seo said that they parted in 2000 and that their marriage legally ended on Aug. 9, 2006, which is contrary to E’s former assertion that the divorce only came into effect in 2009.

“Announcing to the world someone I had already broke up with is not something that should happen. So everything became a secret that had to be kept only in my heart. I hope you understand that I could not say anything,” Seo wrote to his fans on his official website.

Seo’s agency said that the law suit initiated by E was unexpected because all the legal procedures were handled well and ended in 2006. Seo is known to have told his friends online on Saturday that he had given E all the alimony she wanted in 2006. Seo’s agency added that they did not know that E had dropped the suit until they heard it on the news.

The scandal shocked the Korean public as it involved three stars whose private lives were not well known.

Seo, the media-shy enfant terrible of Korean music, had established a mysterious image by leading a secretive life since his debut in 1992 as the leader of Seo Taiji & Boys.

E’s personal profile had also been shrouded in mystery since her debut in 2004, even producing comments that she was an alien. The news of her secret marriage with Seo was all the more surprising because she had bee in the headlines in April when heartthrob actor Jung Woo-sung admitted to having a special relationship with her. The two starred together in a recent SBS drama “ATHENA: Goddess of War.”

Jung is viewed the biggest victim of the scandal. He was reported as saying that he did not know about the marriage between his current girlfriend and Seo.

The scandal had been snowballing, producing rumors about secret relationships Seo may have had with other celebrities, like actress Koo Hye-sun, and resulting children.

By Park Min-young (claire@heraldcorp.com)