Roh Soh-yeong forgoes cross-appeal as SK chief takes divorce assets battle to Supreme Court
After appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court in August, Chey Tae-won filed a request to narrow the scope of his appeal and would challenge only the remaining 244 billion won ($182.1 million) of the 944 billion won settlement.
Chey Tae-won, the chairman of SK Group, left, and his estranged wife, Roh Soh-yeong, attend a legal proceeding for their divorce trial at Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on June 15.YONHAP
Roh Soh-yeong has decided not to file a cross-appeal against a court ruling on the division of assets in her divorce case with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, but the dispute is expected to continue as Chey has appealed the ruling.
She did not file a cross-appeal with the Supreme Court by the deadline — midnight on Tuesday — legal sources said on Wednesday. A cross-appeal allows one party to challenge parts of a lower court ruling that are unfavorable to them after the opposing party has filed an appeal.
Roh appears to have concluded that further contesting the assets subject to division, as well as the division ratio, would offer her little practical benefit.
In July, during proceedings following a Supreme Court remand, the Seoul High Court ruled that Chey must pay Roh 944 billion won ($704 million) in cash as part of the divorce settlement.
The court determined that the couple’s assets subject to division totaled 2.9 trillion won, including approximately 2 trillion won in SK shares, and set the division ratio at 66.6 percent for Chey and 33.3 percent for Roh.
After appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court in August, Chey filed a request to narrow the scope of his appeal. He also stated that he would no longer contest 700 billion won of the 944 billion won settlement and would challenge only the remaining 244 billion won.
Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong heads into the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on June 15.JOINT PRESS CORPS
In a brief — submitted on Tuesday — outlining the grounds for his appeal, Chey’s legal team questioned whether the lower court’s division of assets was appropriate. Chey’s lawyers challenged the court’s decision to award Roh 33.3 percent of the assets despite excluding former President Roh Tae-woo’s alleged slush funds from consideration, in line with a Supreme Court ruling last year. The 33.3 percent share was only slightly lower than the 35 percent awarded to Roh in the earlier appellate ruling before the Supreme Court remanded the case.
Chey’s legal team also argued that it was inappropriate for the court to value SK shares based on their price at the arguments’ close in the earlier appellate proceedings and factor in subsequent increases in the share price into the asset division ratio.
Additionally, the team plans to challenge the inclusion of Chey’s stake in SK Siltron, acquired in 2017 after the marriage had broken down, among the assets subject to division.
The Supreme Court is expected to assign a justice to preside over the case soon and begin its review.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
