Court says adjusted numbers in SK chair's divorce ruling immaterial to settlement

Home > Business > Industry

Court says adjusted numbers in SK chair's divorce ruling immaterial to settlement

Published: 18 Jun. 2024, 13:19 Updated: 18 Jun. 2024, 17:12

JIN EUN-SOO
jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won [YONHAP]

The Seoul High Court said Tuesday the record divorce settlement ruling of 1.3 trillion won ($941.5 million) against SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won for Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong will remain unchanged, a day after making a correction to its ruling.

"The error in the ruling will have no impact on the division of property," the court said.

The previous day, the court corrected what Chey indicated was "critical error" by changing the value of Daehan Telecom, the former name of SK C&C, from 100 won to 1,000 won in 1998 when Chey's father and former chairman Chey Jong-hyun passed away. Share value increments of SK C&C after the elder Chey's death served as a barometer to gauge Roh's contribution to the group's growth.

The court on Tuesday said the share value of SK C&C, the predecessor of SK Inc., rose 125 times under former chairman Chey Jong-hyun's management from 1988, when his son and the daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo were married, and consequently 160 times under the younger Chey's management until 2024, maintaining its stance that the current chairman contributed more to the group's growth.

A greater contribution by Chey to the growth of the business translates to a greater share for Roh in the division of property.

The correction of the share value in 1998, which falls in the "middle," cannot have an impact on the ultimate property division ratio, the court said.

The appellate court in May issued the ruling in the country's most expensive divorce case.

SK Group on Monday claimed that the court exaggerated Chey Tae-won's contribution to the group's growth while in fact much of it had been inherited from his father, adding that the growth rate of the share value of SK C&C should be calculated at 125 times during Chey Jong-hyun's management and 35.6 times for Chey Tae-won until 2009 when SK C&C went public.

"While the existing ruling compared the former and current chairmen Cheys' contributions in the timespan from 1994 to 2009, the recent one extended the time period to 2024," Chey's legal team said Tuesday in response to the court's statement.

"We want to ask how the ruling is not affected by [the calculation], which was done based on the ratio of 12.5:355 but has now been corrected to 125:160."

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]