Choi Tae-won (66), chairman of SK Group, and Noh So-young (65), director of Art Center Nabi, failed to mediate property division and decided to continue their legal battle.
The 1st Family Affairs Division of the Seoul High Court (Chief Judge Sang-joo Lee) declared that mediation was not established immediately after completing the second mediation date for the property division remand trial of the two people on the 15th.
About two months after the court referred the case to mediation on April 17, mediation was canceled.
The court designated the formal hearing date as the 26th. It is expected that both sides will engage in a fierce battle again in court through the defense process.
The court held the first argument for the remand trial on January 9 and referred the case to mediation three months later.
Afterwards, two mediation sessions were held on the 13th and today of last month to seek agreement, but it appears that the differences between the two sides were ultimately unable to be narrowed.
On this day, the second mediation day, it opened at 2 PM and ended at 3:30 PM, 90 minutes later.
Both Chairman Choi and Director Roh attended and met face-to-face in court for the first time in about two years and two months since April 2024, the date of the final argument in the divorce suit appeal trial.
Chairman Choi, who arrived in front of the court at 1:47 p.m., was asked by reporters, "How do you feel about meeting Director Roh in court for the first time in two years and two months?" to a reporter's question, "I hope the mediation can be concluded well and end quickly," and entered the court.
Director Noh, who arrived at 1:39 p.m. earlier, entered the meeting without answering questions such as "Do you think there is a possibility of an agreement today?" and "Is there a line that can be compromised during the mediation process?"
After the mediation day ended, the two left the room without making any further remarks.
The two sides are expected to clash over the size, method, and standards of future property division.
In particular, conflicting claims are being made regarding whether SK stocks owned by Chairman Choi are subject to division.
Chairman Choi's position is that SK stocks are unique property formed through inheritance and gifts, so they are not subject to division.
On the other hand, Director Noh argues that since he supported management by taking care of housework such as raising children, it should be regarded as common property subject to division.
There will also be a debate over the standard timing for property division.
This is because the value may differ by more than three times depending on whether the reference point is April 16, 2024, the closing date of the argument in the factual trial (appellate trial) of the divorce suit, or the closing date of the argument in the currently ongoing remand trial.
As of the closing date of the factual hearing, SK stock price was 160,000 won, and the value of SK stock held by Chairman Choi was around 2.07 trillion won.
Recently, as SK stock price rose significantly to around 600,000 won, its value also jumped significantly.
Chairman Choi and Director Roh got married in September 1988 and had three children, but their relationship broke up. Starting with Chairman Choi's application for divorce mediation in 2017, the two have been engaged in a fierce legal battle.
The first trial ruled in December 2022 that “Chairman Choi should pay Director Roh 100 million won in alimony and 66.5 billion won in cash through property division.”
However, the second trial ruled that 2 billion won in alimony and 1.38 trillion won in property division be paid in May 2024.
The initial judgment that Chairman Choi's shares in SK Corporation were not subject to division was overturned, and the division amount increased 20 times (KRW 66.5 billion to KRW 1.3 trillion).
This is due to the judgment that former President Roh Tae-woo's 'slush fund of 30 billion won' and Director Roh contributed to the growth of SK Group.
However, in October last year, the Supreme Court sent the case back for a retrial, saying that since former President Roh Tae-woo's slush fund was illegal money, even if the money had flowed into SK, it could not be taken into account as Roh's contribution in the division of assets.
However, the appeal was dismissed and the portion acknowledging 2 billion won in alimony was confirmed as is.
