Chey Tae-won Appeals to Supreme Court 1 Minute Before Deadline

At 11:59 p.m. yesterday (August 14), a statement from the legal representatives of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won was delivered to the press corps covering the court.

The statement explained that, after deep deliberation and taking various circumstances into consideration, they had submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Just one minute before the re-appeal deadline, the decision was announced to contest the remand ruling, which ordered him to pay 944 billion won in cash to Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi.

The legal team also stated that they would approach future proceedings with a commitment to minimizing negative impacts on shareholders and group management.

With Chairman Chey opting for a re-appeal, the legal battle between the two, which has already spanned over nine years since 2017, is set to be prolonged further.

Regarding the decision to re-appeal, interpretations in business and legal circles suggest it stems from a refusal to accept the ruling mandating the payment of 944 billion won in cash.

This is because, even though the Supreme Court judged that former President Roh Tae-woo's slush funds were illegal and could not be seen as a contribution by Director Roh even if they flowed into SK, the property division ratio remained similar to that of the second instance.

In addition, analyses suggest that practical difficulties in raising a massive amount of cash in a short period likely served as a background factor.

Had the remand ruling been finalized, Chairman Chey would have faced the obligation to pay a 5 percent annual delay interest to Director Roh if he failed to pay the 944 billion won immediately starting at midnight today.

The interest alone amounts to around 130 million won per day.

While there had been speculations that raising such cash could lead to the sale of holding company shares, the decision is interpreted as having accounted for both the stability of group management and its potential impact on the stock market.

(Produced by Jeong Yu-mi | Video by Na Hong-hee | Graphics by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.