"Payout of 944 Billion Won in Property Division"... SK Shares Recognized as Subject to Division

[Anchor]

The so-called "trial of the century" divorce lawsuit between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong has concluded for now after nine years. The court ruled that Chairman Chey's SK shares are subject to property division and ordered him to pay 944 billion won to Director Roh.

Reporter Jang Hun-gyeong has the details.

[Reporter]

Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group and Director Roh Soh-yeong of Art Center Nabi once drew massive attention with their 1988 marriage between the eldest son of a chaebol family and the daughter of the sitting president.

The so-called "trial of the century" divorce lawsuit, which began in 2017 after Chairman Chey abruptly revealed he had a child out of wedlock in 2015, has now concluded after nine years.

The Seoul High Court ordered Chairman Chey to pay 944 billion won to Director Roh in the remand trial for their divorce and property division lawsuit.

Although the divided amount decreased by about 400 billion won from the 1.3808 trillion won determined in the second trial before the remand, the court recognized the SK shares held by Chairman Chey as subject to division.

The court did not accept the argument from Chairman Chey's side that the SK shares were inherited separate property from the late former chairman and therefore not subject to division.

The court explained, "During the marriage period, the value of the shares increased significantly through Chairman Chey's business activities, and Director Roh contributed through housekeeping, childcare, and external activities concerning the SK Group."

However, the court did not accept Director Roh's argument that the valuation date for the shares subject to division should be the closing date of arguments in the remand trial, determining instead that it should be April 2024, the closing date of arguments in the previous appellate trial.

The court explained that although SK's stock price rose sharply after the closing of arguments in the previous appellate trial, "it cannot be said that Chairman Chey's contributions had no effect."

Previously, in the 2022 first-instance trial, the court ordered Chairman Chey to pay Director Roh 66.5 billion won in property division and 100 million won in alimony, but two years later, the second-instance trial drastically increased the property division to 1.3808 trillion won and alimony to 2 billion won.

Last October, the Supreme Court finalized the divorce and alimony rulings while ordering a remand to recalculate the property division amount, excluding slush funds associated with former President Roh Tae-woo.

(Video Editing: Lee Sang-min)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.