Court orders SK chairman to pay ex-wife 944 billion won

A Seoul appeals court on Friday ordered SK Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay 944 billion won ($644 million) plus annual interest of five percent to his former wife, Roh Soh-yeong, in their divorce property settlement.

The Seoul High Court's decision shows that it maintained its earlier finding that Chey's shares in SK are marital property subject to division.

The amount awarded, however, was reduced by about 446.8 billion won from the 1.38 trillion won ordered in the previous appeals court ruling after the Supreme Court instructed the lower court to recalculate the division ratio. Even so, the award is about 14 times larger than the 66.5 billion won first ordered by the trial court.

“The shares held by Chairman Chey were assets acquired in Chairman Chey's name during the marriage, and both Chairman Chey and Director Roh contributed to their formation and to maintaining and increasing their value,” the court said. “The value of the shares grew significantly through Chairman Chey's management activities during the marriage, and Director Roh's contributions through homemaking, child rearing and external activities related to SK Group played a part in that growth.”

The court, however, ordered the 944 billion won division amount to be paid in cash and not SK shares. “Chairman Chey shall continue to hold his SK shares, and the shortfall in Director Roh's share shall be paid in cash,” it said. 

This appears to reflect both parties' stated positions during the remanded retrial as well as the fact that dividing the shares in kind would affect Chey's management rights and control over SK.

The asset division ratio was set at two-thirds for Chey and one-third for Roh. This is not significantly reduced from the second-instance ruling, which had ordered a 35 percent share division for Roh.

“We considered that a substantial portion of the couple's joint assets were formed or acquired during the marriage,” it said. “We took into account the assets each side held at the time of marriage, the circumstances under which the joint assets were acquired, the degree of each party's contribution to their formation and maintenance and the length of the marriage.”

Following the Supreme Court's determination that an alleged 30 billion won slush fund, even if it existed, could not be considered a contribution to asset formation, this portion was excluded from the division. “In line with the intent of the Supreme Court's remand ruling, even if there had been financial support from Director Roh's father, this was not factored into the calculation of the division ratio,” it said. 

The claim refers to money that former President Roh Tae-woo — Roh Soh-yeong's father — allegedly gave to SK's late founding chairman and Chey Tae-won's father Chey Jong-hyun back in 1991. Roh had claimed that money contributed to SK Group's growth and that Chey's SK shares should therefore be included in the assets to be divided.

The court determined the reference point for calculating SK's stock price would be April 16, 2024, the date closing arguments concluded in the second-instance trial. SK's stock price has more than quintupled since the second-instance closing arguments.

Chey's side had argued that the reference date should be the second-instance closing date, when the divorce itself was finalized. Roh's side contended that the reference point should be the date closing arguments concluded in Friday's remanded property division retrial. 

The court's decision followed a Supreme Court precedent from 2000. “Even when property division is sought after a divorce has been finalized, the reference point for calculating assets must be the date closing arguments concluded in the fact-finding trial of the divorce case,” it said, referencing the precedent.

The couple's divorce and the 2 billion won alimony ruling were finalized by the Supreme Court in October of last year, with only the asset division sent back for retrial.

Even so, the amount going to Roh comes close to 1 trillion won because the court factored SK's sharp stock price rise into its calculation of the division ratio.

“For a fair division of marital assets jointly built through both parties' cooperation, we took into account the substantial rise in share value since the second-instance closing date,” it said. “We considered that Director Roh's managerial contributions played a role in the increase in value of Chairman Chey's shares.”

As a result, while the value attributed to the shares was reduced, the division ratio barely changed from the second-instance ruling's 35 percent.

This follows a Supreme Court precedent from August 2025, which held that a decline in home prices after divorce should be factored into property division. “Where external or subsequent circumstances affecting real estate or other assets jointly formed and maintained between the finalization of divorce and the conclusion of closing arguments in the property division case create a situation inconsistent with the goal of fair settlement and distribution, these can be factored into the valuation,” it said. 

Both sides can appeal Friday's ruling. If an appeal is filed, the ruling will not be finalized until the Supreme Court's re-appeal review concludes.

Chey's legal team said it will give a detailed position on the ruling in the near future. 

“After nearly 20 years in the process of dissolving the marriage, the divorce was finalized by last year's Supreme Court ruling, and today's retrial ruling on property division followed,” it said. “Chairman Chey feels sorry for the concern he has caused many people throughout this process. We will share our detailed position on the ruling after closely reviewing the written judgment.”

Roh's legal team left the courthouse without responding to reporters' questions.

BY CHOI SEO-IN, JO SU-BIN [[email protected]]