Court Orders SK Group Chairman to Pay $644 Million in Divorce Settlement
A Seoul appellate court on Friday ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay 944 billion won (US$644 million) in asset division to his former wife, Roh Soh-yeong, in a closely watched case stemming from their divorce.
The Seoul High Court handed down the verdict following the Supreme Court's decision in October to send the case back for review while finalizing the divorce and Chey's alimony payment of 2 billion won to Roh. The amount is lower than the 1.38 trillion won that the court initially ordered Chey to pay in 2024.
The appellate court ruled that SK Inc. shares owned by Chey should be included in the division, a key point of dispute between the two sides. The court determined that Roh was entitled to one-third of the couple's property, while the rest belonged to Chey, noting it considered their assets at the time of their marriage and contributions to the formation of their property.
Chey's lawyers said they would consider whether to appeal after reviewing the verdict, adding that Chey was apologetic for causing concern over the case. Roh's lawyers did not respond to reporters' questions about the ruling.
The ruling came nine years after Chey initiated divorce proceedings in 2017 after admitting two years earlier to having an extramarital lover and a child with her. Chey and Roh, the daughter of late former President Roh Tae-woo, married in 1988 and have three children together.
During the earlier trial in 2024, Roh's legal team had successfully argued that Chey had received significant help from her father, who had served as president from 1988 to 1993. The court had determined that Roh Tae-woo had given Chey 30 billion won from his slush fund in 1991. However, the Supreme Court overturned that verdict last year, ruling that the slush funds were illegally obtained and could not be considered as part of the couple's assets.
SK Group is one of South Korea's chaebols, family-owned conglomerates that dominate the country's economy. SK Hynix, a semiconductor giant that supplies chips to Nvidia, recently made a record-setting debut on the US stock market.