Koo Jun-yup Enters Mediation Over Seo Hee-won's 1,200-Billion-Won Estate

Shortly after Seo Hee-won's death in February 2025, her husband Koo Jun-yup told the public he planned to give his full inheritance to her mother, saying the fortune was something Hee-won had built through her own hard work for her family. According to Taiwanese outlet San Li News Network, that transfer never happened in any legal sense.

The report states that Koo Jun-yup did not complete any formal renunciation of his inheritance rights, and that his legal representative and the attorney acting for Seo Hee-won's two children are both scheduled to appear in court next week to begin official mediation over the estate's division. Koo's team has not issued a public response to the coverage.

The estate is estimated at up to 600 million New Taiwan dollars, roughly 120 billion KRW (approximately USD 83 million), based on local media calculations that include property Seo Hee-won owned and assets she secured during her 2021 divorce from ex-husband Wang Xiaofei. The exact total has not been officially disclosed.

Under Taiwan's statutory inheritance rules, with no separate will on record, the estate would be divided into thirds: one share each for Koo Jun-yup as surviving spouse, and one share each for Seo Hee-won's two minor children, whose combined portion would amount to two-thirds of the total.

Taiwanese reporting also claimed that Seo Hee-won's mother had asked Koo Jun-yup to sign renunciation documents, and that he declined, though neither party has officially confirmed that account. The suggestion that Koo had stepped away from the estate gained traction earlier when it was reported he had moved out of the Taipei home he shared with Seo Hee-won after her passing.

On the children's side, Wang Xiaofei's legal team has applied to the court for a special guardian to be appointed on behalf of the two minors, and a court-designated attorney is already managing the inheritance process for them. A dedicated trust account has also been set up to hold the children's share. Wang Xiaofei's representatives noted that Koo Jun-yup's own third "will be handled according to his wishes and financial plans," adding that they fully respect whatever decision he makes.

Local Taiwanese coverage has interpreted Koo's participation in the legal proceedings as a sign he is engaged with ensuring the children's assets are properly protected, rather than as a move to claim more than his legal portion. But it is worth noting that the minors' inheritance is, by design, managed through the court-appointed guardian process regardless of Koo's involvement.

The core question heading into mediation is how Koo Jun-yup will ultimately reconcile his public statement with his still-intact legal claim. Whether he retains his one-third share, transfers it to Seo Hee-won's mother as he originally indicated, or arrives at some other arrangement should become clear once the mediation proceedings conclude.

Seo Hee-won, a Taiwanese celebrity, married Wang Xiaofei in 2011, had two children with him, and divorced in 2021. She and Koo Jun-yup, a South Korean singer, had been in a relationship years before reconnecting and remarrying in 2022. She passed away in April 2025 at 48, after contracting influenza during a trip to Japan that developed into severe pneumonia.