"You Said You'd Never See Her Again"—Can a Wife Divorce a Husband Who Had Another Affair with the Same Woman? [The Law in Cases Like This]

[Financial News] A story has emerged about a husband who, after being caught having an affair and asking for forgiveness, cheated again with the same woman. His wife said she was wondering whether she could seek a divorce because of his repeated infidelity.

On the 17th, YTN Radio's "Attorney Jo In-seop's Counseling Center" introduced the case of Ms. A, a woman who has been married for 15 years.
Ms. A recalled a time when her relationship with her husband was no longer what it used to be. She said, "At some point, my husband and I became less physically affectionate. I didn't really want it that much either. I wondered whether we were going through a period of marital stagnation, but people told me that was how everyone lived, so instead of expecting excitement, I decided to focus on fulfilling my role."
While focusing on household chores and raising the children, Ms. A discovered two years ago that her husband was seeing another woman.
According to Ms. A, the other woman worked for one of her husband's business partners. Her husband and the woman secretly dated for several months and frequently visited motels. After learning about the affair, Ms. A decided to seek a divorce.
However, her husband got down on his knees, shed tears, and begged her to give him just one more chance for the sake of their children. He also wrote a pledge promising that he would never see the woman again.
Ms. A said, "Seeing that made me waver. The children were still young, and it was difficult to end a marriage of more than 10 years in an instant."
In the end, Ms. A decided to give her husband one more chance. The other woman also reportedly apologized and promised not to see her husband again.
But the situation changed again recently. While tidying up her husband's car, Ms. A found a delivery label bearing a familiar name. The address matched the place where the other woman had previously lived. After looking into it, she said she discovered that her husband and the woman had resumed seeing each other.
When Ms. A confronted him, her husband argued, "Didn't you say you had already forgiven me for everything before? You can't get a divorce over this now."
Ms. A then sought legal advice, asking, "Am I supposed to tolerate him having another affair with the same woman just because I forgave him back then? In a case like this, am I not even legally entitled to seek a divorce?"

Attorney Im Hyeong-chang explained that forgiving a past affair does not mean forgiving any new infidelity that occurs afterward. He said, "Forgiving past infidelity means forgiving only the conduct that had occurred up to that point. It does not mean that it is acceptable to commit a new affair in the future. In this case, in particular, the husband promised that he would never see the woman again, yet he began seeing the same woman once more."
Attorney Im believed that the renewed affair could constitute new grounds for divorce, separate from the earlier incident. He explained, "The repeated infidelity in this case could be considered new grounds for divorce, separately from what happened two years ago. In fact, because he repeated the same conduct despite being given an opportunity to rebuild trust, this could weigh heavily against him when determining responsibility for the breakdown of the marriage."
He explained that whether Ms. A could seek damages from the other woman would depend on the terms of any previous agreement. Attorney Im added, "We must first determine what kind of agreement was reached with the other woman in the past. If she merely apologized by phone and promised not to see him again, it is certainly worth considering filing a separate claim for damages over the new infidelity that occurred afterward."
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