A Seoul High Court ruled on Friday that billionaire SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won must pay his ex-wife 944 billion won ($640 million) following a divorce case that garnered significant media attention. The decision came several months after South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered the appellate court to revisit the dispute involving Chey and Roh So-yeong, who serves as director of a Seoul art museum and is the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo.
The awarded amount represents a reduction from a previous 1.38 trillion won ($940 million) settlement that the high court had mandated last year. Chey had also been ordered previously to pay 2 billion won ($1.3 million) in alimony to Roh. The timing of the ruling coincides with a recent increase in Chey’s asset values, driven by gains in SK Hynix, the semiconductor subsidiary of SK Group, which has benefited from heightened global interest in artificial intelligence technologies.
The high court’s initial ruling had incorporated conclusions about alleged slush funds worth 30 billion won ($20.4 million) that Roh’s father purportedly provided to SK during his presidential tenure. The Supreme Court’s subsequent review determined that these funds could not be legally recognized as a contribution to the company’s development, prompting a recalculation of the settlement terms.
Chey and Roh were married in 1988 and have three children together. Chey initiated divorce proceedings in 2017 following his disclosure that he was involved in another relationship and had fathered a child outside the marriage. Neither party was present at Friday’s court proceeding. The case retains the potential to return to the Supreme Court should either Chey or Roh file an appeal.
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