The Song-Song couple: remember when Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo were married?

Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo were once hailed as Korea’s golden couple. Sadly, things didn't work out the way they should, and their celebrated union ended up in divorce only after two years of marriage. Let us find out what they are up to now.

Song Joong Ki was born in Daejeon, South Korea, on 19 September 1985. He is best known as one of South Korea’s most popular male actors and part of the original cast of the variety show ‘Running Man’.

Song Joong Ki is the middle child of three siblings. When he was young, he competed in short track speed skating and was even chosen to represent his city of Daejeon at the national level. Unfortunately, he was forced to give up on the sport due to an injury in his first year of high school.

(Image: Netflix)

Song Joong Ki was scouted by a talent agent on the subway while he was preparing for his university entrance test in Seoul. He was initially unsure of entering the entertainment industry as his father was opposed to him being an actor, and that he was still deciding on his career path at that stage.

(Image: Netflix)

However, he eventually bit the bullet and became a full-time actor while switching to study part-time in his third year of his university.

Some of Song Joong Ki’s most popular dramas include ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’, ‘Innocent Man’ and ‘Descendants of the Sun’.

(Image: Netflix)

Song Joong Ki was Gallup Korea’s Actor of the Year in 2012 and 2017. He also won the Daesang Grand Prize award, the highest award in South Korean television, in 2016 for his role in the hit series ‘Descendants of the Sun’.

Song Jong Ki has two projects that are currently airing on Netflix. They are the drama series ‘Vincenzo’ and the movie ‘Space Sweepers’. He is also said to be cast in the crime-thriller movie ‘Bogota’, which was forced to halt filming due to the coronavirus. The movie is planned to be filmed almost entirely in Bogota, Colombia, South America.

(Image: Netflix)

Song Hye Kyo’s parents divorced when she was a young girl. She was single-handedly raised by her mother and moved from Daegu to Gangnam district in Seoul. She trained as a figure skater in elementary school but eventually quit the sport when she was in eighth grade.

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In 1996, Song Hye Kyo made her debut as a model in the entertainment industry when she won first place in the SunKyung Smart Model Contest. This led to the start of her career in television as she was cast in her first small-screen role in ‘First Love’.

(Image: KBS)

Some of her most popular dramas include ‘Autumn in My Heart’, ‘Full House’ and ‘Descendants of the Sun’.

(Image: KBS2)

Song Hye Kyo won the Daesang (grand prize) awards in 2013 and 2016 for her roles in the TV series ‘That Winter, the Wind Blows’ and also like her ex-husband, for her work in ‘Descendants of the Sun’.

(Image: KBS2)

Song Hye Kyo was cast in two new dramas ‘The Glory’ and ‘Now, We Are Breaking Up’. Her latest projects were welcome news after she took a break from filming for two years.

(Image: KBS2)

The Korea Herald reported that in 2014, Song Hye Kyo was accused of committing tax fraud when the National Tax Service of South Korea announced that they were investigating top actress “S” for possible tax evasion. The next day, Korean newspaper DongA Ilbo revealed the identity of the actress to be Song Hye Kyo.

According to the Korea Herald, Song Hye Kyo was accused of reporting in 5.5 billion won as tax-deductible expenses when there were no documents to support her claims. The tax evasion reportedly took place for three years from the period of 2009 to 2011 when she filed her income taxes. The Seoul Tax Service totalled the total amount of taxes owed to be 2.56 billion won.

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According to The Korea Times, Song Hye Kyo’s management United Artist Agency (UAA) announced through a press release that the actress was unaware of the taxes owed until the National Tax Service (NTS) notified her in 2012. The company claims that Song Hye Kyo’s tax accountant made critical errors with the actress’s taxes, causing her to be heavily fined and taxed. As a result, Song Hye Kyo had to make restitution totalling 3.1 billion won to the NTS.

Further controversy ensued when it was revealed that Song Hye Kyo was appointed as an 'Exemplary Taxpayer' by her district in 2009. It is ironic considering that she was just found guilty of having evaded her taxes for three years.

The recognition conferred upon her by the tax office gave her certain tax privileges, such as being able to defer tax probes for two years. This was also the same year where she allegedly began to evade her taxes, The Korea Herald reports.

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In 2017, The Straits Times reported that Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo announced that they were getting married on 31 October after having played a couple in the hit series ‘Descendants of the Sun’. This sudden announcement came as a welcome surprise to fans, as the stars had been adamantly denying their rumored romance.

Unfortunately, the couple filed for divorce in 2019 after less than two years of marriage due to “personality differences, The Straits Times reports. Fans of the golden couple were broken-hearted upon hearing the news, as they were a perfect couple in the drama.

Fortunately for them, their professional prospects appear to be improving. Song Hye Kyo returned in 2022 with 'Now, We Are Breaking Up' and her most recent work in 2023, 'The Glory'. Song Joong Ki, on the other hand, is set to return to the drama series 'My Youth' in 2024 after a two-year hiatus!

Song Hye Kyo has not been romantically linked to anyone new as of yet. Song Joong Ki, on the other hand, married again in January 2023 to British-Italian actress Katy Louise Saunders, according to CNN. Star News reported that the newlywed couple welcomed a new addition to their family on June 14, 2023!

Image: hi_songjoongki / Instagram, Sony Pictures