SK Chairman Chey Tae-won appeals the non-prosecution of defamation by Director Noh So-young's lawyer.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Jae-hyeon = SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won appealed against the prosecution's decision not to indict the lawyer for Noh So-young, the director of the Nabi Art Center, who said, "I spent more than 100 billion won on my housemate."

Chairman Choi's side claimed that the amount included money paid to Director Noh and donations for public interest purposes, and that the actual amount of joint living expenses was inflated by "more than 50 times."

Chairman Choi's legal representative issued a statement on the 15th and announced that he had appealed the non-indictment of Director Noh So-young's attorney A on charges of defamation for spreading false information.

Chairman Choi's side claimed, "The amount that Chairman Choi used for living expenses with director Kim Hee-young was approximately 2 billion won at the time of the claim," and "It was confirmed through an investigation into financial transaction details and was explained in detail to the property division court, and both Director Noh and Attorney A were aware of this."

He then pointed out, “The 100 billion won presented by Attorney A included not only expenditures for different purposes but also the amount spent on Director Noh himself and his three children.”

Specifically, Attorney A viewed the 20.4 billion won spent from the Kookmin Bank account opened during Chairman Choi's incarceration as money spent on a housemate, but explained that the account was opened for Director Noh and that a significant portion of the spending was also money taken by Director Noh.

It was claimed that contributions and donations for public interest purposes made to the Children's Foundation, the Community Chest of Korea, and the T&C Foundation were also counted as gifts.

The fact that Chairman Chey Tae-won's house and artwork were included in the sole name was also raised as an issue.

It was revealed that there was a contradiction in that Director Noh's side requested division of the same assets as marital property in the trial, while the media claimed that the assets were donated to Director Kim.

Regarding the meaning of the prosecution's decision not to indict, he said, "It means that there is insufficient evidence to prove the perception of false facts," and emphasized, "There is no judgment anywhere in the decision that the disseminated figures have been confirmed to be true."

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, which previously investigated the case, decided not to indict Attorney A on charges of defamation on the 9th due to insufficient evidence.

Attorney A was sued by Chairman Choi for saying to reporters during the alimony lawsuit that Director Roh filed against Director Kim in November 2023, "The amount of money that Chairman Choi has spent on Chairman Kim exceeds 100 billion won since 2015 alone."

However, the prosecution judged that Attorney A's remarks had some basis, and that Chairman Choi's side failed to provide sufficient grounds for rebuttal to overturn them.