[Anchor]

The high-profile property division lawsuit between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong, which has drawn widespread attention as the "divorce of the century," is set to be reviewed by the Supreme Court once again. Chairman Chey has filed an appeal to challenge the ruling that orders him to pay nearly 1 trillion won in cash to Director Roh.

Reporter Park Ha-jeong has the details.

[Reporter]

Yesterday (August 14), which marked the final deadline for filing a re-appeal, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won submitted his appeal to the Seoul High Court, the appellate court that handled the remand trial.

This move comes in defiance of last month's remand ruling, which ordered him to pay 944 billion won in cash to Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong.

Chairman Chey’s legal team stated, "After careful consideration of various circumstances, Chairman Chey has decided to submit the appeal," adding, "We will approach future proceedings with a commitment to minimizing negative impacts on shareholders and group management."

It is expected that in the Supreme Court appeal, Chairman Chey's side will argue that there were legal misunderstandings in the property division ratio or the calculation of the amount determined by the remand trial.

Analysts suggest he intends to contest the fact that the property division ratio was decided at a level similar to the second trial, despite the Supreme Court's ruling that the slush funds of former President Roh Tae-woo were illegal and could not be considered a contribution by Director Roh's side, even if they flowed into SK.

Some perspectives also view this as an intention to buy time to secure the massive sum of nearly 1 trillion won and avoid late-payment interest.

Had the re-appeal not been filed and the remand ruling finalized, Chairman Chey would have been required to pay an annual late-payment interest rate of 5% from the following day until the payment was completed.

This amounts to approximately 130 million won per day.

While there had been observations that securing cash might necessitate selling stakes in the holding company, Chairman Chey's side is also believed to have taken into account the stability of group management and the potential impact on the stock market.

(Video Editing: Jeon Min-gyu)