Appellate Court Orders SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to Pay 944 Billion Won in Divorce Settlement

SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) -- An appellate court on Friday ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay 944 billion won (US$644 million) in property 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 daughter of late former President Roh Tae-woo.

The newly determined amount was lower than the 1.38 trillion won that the court initially ordered Chey to pay for property division in 2024.

After Friday's ruling, Chey's lawyers told reporters they would consider whether to appeal after reviewing the verdict, adding that Chey felt apologetic for causing concern over the case.

Roh's lawyers left the court without responding to reporters' questions.

In the latest ruling, 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.

It sided against Chey's argument that they were separate property acquired through inheritance or gifts.

The court ruled 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.

"The value of the stocks rose greatly through Chey's business activities during the period of their marriage, and Roh's household and child-rearing activities and her public activities related to SK Group contributed to this," the court said.

It, however, did not recognize a purported slush fund that Roh's father allegedly funneled to Chey's father as part of the younger Roh's contributions as it did in its original verdict in line with the Supreme Court ruling.

Meanwhile, the appellate court ruled that SK Inc. shares subject to the division should each be valued at 160,000 won -- the closing price on April 16, 2024, when oral arguments of the initial appeal ended.

Roh had argued for setting the valuation date to when the closing arguments in the remanded trial ended late last month. SK Inc. shares traded above 800,000 won at the time.

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 married in 1988 and have three children together.

A Seoul family court ruled in December 2022 that Chey should pay 66.5 billion won in property division to Roh after recognizing his stake in SK shares as his separate property.

In May 2024, the Seoul High Court overturned the lower court ruling, ordering Chey to pay about 1.38 trillion won in property division to Roh.

In its 2024 verdict, the appellate court had recognized the purported slush fund worth 30 billion won as part of Roh's contributions to the marriage.

The Supreme Court overturned the asset division ruling, saying that even if the alleged fund had been funneled, it could not be considered in the asset division as the fund itself appeared to have been illegal.