A court ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay 944 billion won in property division to Roh Soh-yeong, director of the Art Center Nabi, in a retrial following a Supreme Court remand. The amount is roughly 430 billion won less than in the appellate ruling before the Supreme Court's remand.
The Seoul High Court's Family Division 1 (presiding judge Lee Sang-joo) handed down the ruling at 2 p.m. on the 24th in the property division retrial between Chey and Roh, determining that SK Inc. shares held by Chey were subject to division. In the original appellate ruling before the Supreme Court's remand, the court had ordered Chey to pay Roh 1.3808 trillion won.
The property division ratio was set at two-thirds for Chey and one-third for Roh. The timing for calculating the value of the shares subject to division, which had been a point of contention, also followed existing precedent. The court calculated the share value based on the closing price on April 16, 2024, the date when arguments concluded in the fact-finding trial (appellate court) of the divorce suit. At that time, SK Inc.'s closing price was 160,600 won. In contrast, the closing price on June 26, 2026, the date arguments concluded in the retrial, was 815,000 won, and had the value been calculated based on this point, the scale of the property division could have been larger.
However, the court partially reflected the circumstances of the recent sharp rise in SK Inc.'s share price. "While the SK share price rose sharply between the date arguments concluded in the appellate trial and the date arguments concluded in the retrial, this cannot be seen as unaffected by Chey's managerial contribution," the court said. It explained, "However, for the fair distribution of the couple's joint property, the circumstance that the share price rose sharply was considered in calculating the property division ratio."
The court did not recognize as a contribution from Roh's side the 30 billion won in slush funds that the late former President Roh Tae-woo allegedly delivered to SK, in line with the Supreme Court's ruling last October. In addition, shares that Chey gifted to relatives before the breakdown of his marriage with Roh were excluded from the property subject to division.
The court also ordered that on the 944 billion won Chey must pay Roh, he pay delayed interest of 5 percent per year from the 24th, the day after the ruling, until the day the full amount is repaid.
Chey and Roh, who married in September 1988, had three children together but faced a marital breakdown around 2015. At the time in 2015, Chey confided through the media that he had "lived with a deep rift with director Roh for more than 10 years." In the process, he also revealed for the first time that he had a child outside the marriage.
After divorce mediation failed in 2017, Chey filed a formal lawsuit in February the following year, and Roh filed a countersuit in December 2019.
In December 2022, the first trial ruled that Chey pay Roh 100 million won in consolation money and 66.5 billion won in property division.
In the appellate trial in May 2024, the court ruled that Chey pay Roh 2 billion won in consolation money and property division amounting to 1.3808 trillion won. At the time, the appellate court judged that SK Group had been able to grow thanks to former President Roh's 30 billion won in slush funds and Roh's various contributions, and determined that the SK Inc. stake was also subject to property division.
However, in October last year, the Supreme Court ruled to the effect that "former President Roh's slush funds were illegal funds" and "since the funds in question constitute illegal slush funds, they have no value worthy of protection by the legal order," sending the case back down to the Seoul High Court.
Lee Jae-geun, an attorney representing Chey, said after the ruling, "Above all, Chey feels sorry for having caused concern to many people throughout this process," adding, "We will decide whether to appeal after receiving the ruling and reviewing it closely."
Roh's side left the Seoul High Court building without responding.
