SK Chairman's divorce will cost him a lot, but not too much

SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won and his wife Roh Soh-yeong are seen arriving at the Seoul Family Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on April 7, 2022.

A court told SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay 66.5-billion won ($50.7 million) and 100 million won of alimony to Roh Soh-yeoung in a divorce settlement formalizing the separation of their 35-year marriage.

The Seoul Family Court rejected Roh’s demand of 42.29 percent of Chey's 13 million SK shares, which would have been worth about 1.37 trillion won based on Tuesday’s closing prices.

In fact, the settlement was only 4.8 percent of what Roh, the director of the Art Center Nabi gallery and daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo, initially demanded in 2019 in a counterclaim to Chey’s divorce suit.

If the court ruled in favor of Roh, she would have become the second largest shareholder of SK Inc. after Chey.

Chey is the largest shareholder of SK Inc., the holdings unit of semiconductor-to-energy conglomerate, with a 17.5 percent stake. Roh presently holds a 0.01 percent stake in SK Inc.

It is not yet clear whether the court specified the method and timeframe of Chey's payments to Roh. In a brief statement released by the Seoul Family Court, only the amounts and interest rate for late payments were mentioned.

A legal representative for Chey maintained that the SK Inc. shares were categorized as separate property since they derive from equities inherited by his father Chey Jong-hyun.

Roh’s attorney maintained that his client contributed to growing the wealth of the couple and that the shares should be considered joint property.

The Tuesday ruling is the first on Roh's 2019 counterclaim, and it remains to be seen whether she will appeal.

“The two sides haven’t received a formal statement detailing the judgement,” a source with knowledge of the matter said.

“Once they got the statement, Roh will decide whether she will go against it or accept it,” the source continued, “But one thing is clear: the risk to SK has been resolved because the size of the payment is not significant compared to Roh’s initial demand.”

Shares of SK Inc. edged down 0.71 percent to close at 209,500 won Tuesday.

Chey said he wanted a divorce in 2015, confessing an extramarital affair in a letter to a local media outlet. In 2017, he filed a request to settle the divorce without trial, but the attempt failed, and the two began formal divorce proceedings in 2018.

Chey and Roh wed in 1988, the year Chey’s father-in-law, Roh Tae-woo, was inaugurated president of Korea.

The couple has two daughters and one son.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]