Estranged wife of SK chairman claims husband spent over 100 billion won on live-in partner

Roh Soh-yeong, left and Kim Hee-young, right [NEWS1, GETTY IMAGE]

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has spent more than 100 billion won ($77 million) on his live-in partner Kim Hee-young, Chey’s estranged wife claimed on Thursday.

Kim fired back, calling Art Center Nabi director Roh Soh-yeong's claims malicious and fake.

Seoul Family Court held the pretrial hearing in a damages suit between Roh and Kim on Thursday. Roh filed the suit in March against Kim, demanding 3 billion won in compensation for the mental stress that Kim inflicted on Roh.

“Counting from 2015, when Chey disclosed his relationship with Kim, Chey has spent more than 100 billion won on Kim. The spending for Kim is several times higher than the money Chey provided Roh and their children as a family,” Roh’s lawyers told reporters after the hearing.

“Some money went into the T&C Foundation, which Kim has been chairing, and some fell into the hands of Kim’s relatives via wire transfer or card payment. As it appears that Kim has not paid any gift tax regarding the received fund, Kim might need to provide additional explanation.”

Roh's lawyers said, “If the adulteress gained a huge benefit through infidelity, it should be counted in the alimony calculation.”

“We were also baffled as lawyers because the figure was so huge,” they added.

Kim did not take the accusations lying down.

“Roh has been publishing false information, which directly goes against the current law,” Kim said.

“There is no ground for the 100 billion won claimed by Roh. Roh’s confirmation claim is also fake. They are presenting their false claim as facts.”

Kim’s legal team said Roh's lawsuit against her “is Roh’s attempt to distort public opinion to gain a favorable position in the property division [between Roh and Chey].”

Kim's lawyers claimed that, according to the Supreme Court precedent, the statute of limitations has expired because more than three years have passed since Roh filed her suit in 2019. The affected party could hold the adulterer responsible within the statute of limitations.

Roh's team countered, “As the divorce is not yet confirmed, we can't say the statute of limitations has begun.”

In February 2018, Chey filed an official divorce suit against Roh, which the court dismissed.

Roh filed a separate divorce suit against Chey in December 2019, claiming 300 million won in alimony and half of SK’s 12,975,472 shares held by Chey.

Neither side accepted the court’s first ruling last December, which ordered Chey to pay 66.5 billion won in property and 100 million won in alimony to Roh. The case was referred to the appellate court.

Kim claims the marriage between Chey and Roh has been in tatters for over a decade.

“Based on the law and principle, I hope that the truth could come up to the surface and rightful decision to be made,” Kim's lawyers said.

“We will take legal action against Roh’s attorney as her legal team committed defamation, and their actions violated the Family Litigation Act.”

Chey married Roh in 1988, but publicly announced a new relationship and a daughter born out of wedlock in 2015. Roh is the daughter of late President Roh Tae-woo.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]