SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won files counter-appeal against his wife Roh Soh-yeong

SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, and his wife Roh Soh-yeong [NEWS1]

SK Inc. Chairman Chey Tae-won has filed a counter-appeal against his wife Roh Soh-yeong's appeal against the Seoul Family Court's divorce ruling Thursday.

Roh Soh-yeong, his wife, appealed the divorce settlement earlier on Monday to request a larger share of Chey’s assets.

The Seoul Family Court on Dec. 6 approved a divorce between Chey and Roh after 34 years of marriage, ordering the chairman to pay 66.5 billion won ($51.21 million) in property and 100 million won of alimony.

Roh filed an appeal against the ruling on Monday as she said she cannot accept the court's earlier decision to exclude Chey's shares from property division, according to Roh’s lawyers.

"The concerned shares were not inherited from or gifted by late former SK Chairman Chey Jong-hyun but were purchased in 1994 during their marriage for 280 million won," the lawyers said in a statement.

"The value of the shares increased to over 3 trillion won through Chey's management activities, and Roh cooperated through internal assistance in the process of increasing the value of the stocks," they said.

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

Roh, the daughter of late former President Roh Tae-woo, and Chey married in 1988 and have three children.

Chey admitted to having a child out of wedlock in 2015 and filed for a divorce settlement in July 2017, citing irreconcilable differences.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]