Lee Boo-jin, the eldest daughter of Samsung Group owner Lee Kun-hee, on Thursday ended her 17-year marriage.

Samsung officials confirmed that the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Court, located south of Seoul, has accepted the divorce claims filed by the CEO of Hotel Shilla, a Samsung affiliate. 

Recent news reports have said that the 46-year-old executive has been having marital problems for the past few years.

Lee met her ex-husband Im Woo-jae in 1995, and their marriage four years later drew much public attention at the time, as it was between an heiress of a multibillion dollar enterprise and a rank-and-file employee at one of its affiliate firms.

Im, 48, has been refusing to divorce his wife. Currently a Samsung adviser, he served as vice chairman of Samsung Electro-Mechanics from 2011 to 2015.

The divorce is the second in the youngest generation of the Samsung family after the chairman‘s only son Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of tech giant Samsung Electronics, split from his wife in 2009.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)