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Supreme Court to rule on SK chairman's billion-dollar divorce next week

Published: 10 Oct. 2025, 20:04

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, and Roh Soh-yeong, his estranged wife and daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo, arrive at the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on April 16, 2024 for an appeals hearing in their divorce case. [YONHAP]

The Supreme Court will rule next week on the divorce of Chey Tae-won, the billionaire chairman of SK Group, and Roh Soh-yeong, daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo, concluding a legal battle that has spanned nearly a decade.

The case has set a record for the largest asset division in Korean history — 1.38 trillion won ($970 million) — and its outcome could reshape ownership and control within SK, the country’s second-largest conglomerate.

The Supreme Court’s First Division said Friday it will hand down the verdict at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Although the case had been discussed by all 14 justices as a “plenary review matter,” it will be decided by the smaller division.

A court official said the case was “reviewed by all justices, even though it was not formally referred to the Grand Bench.”

The Supreme Court’s review stretched for over a year, reflecting how sharply the lower courts differed in their conclusions and how much weight the ruling could have on the governance and financial stability of Korea's second-largest conglomerate.

Beyond the unprecedented scale of the dispute, the case also touches on former President Roh Tae-woo’s slush funds and allegations of political-business collusion — issues rarely examined so publicly in a civil case.

At the center of the dispute is whether certain assets should be treated as special property, meaning they were owned before marriage.

Chey argues that his SK Group shares were purchased with 2.8 billion won gifted by his late father, former SK Chairman Chey Jong-hyon, and should therefore be excluded from the marital estate. Roh maintains that SK’s growth was fueled by political favoritism and illicit funds linked to her father’s presidency.

The first-instance court largely accepted Chey’s argument, recognizing only 66.5 billion won as subject to division. But the appellate court overturned that finding, saying there was “no identifiable link” between the father’s gift and Chey’s later stock purchases.

It also accepted new evidence introduced by Roh’s legal team, including a note from her mother, Kim Ok-sook, labeled “Sunkyong 300 billion won,” and six promissory notes totaling that amount allegedly tied to a 1992 fund from Sunkyong Construction, now SK ecoplant.

The appellate court concluded that SK’s expansion had been supported by Roh Tae-woo’s political funds, not the senior Chey’s inheritance. It raised the asset division from 66.5 billion won to 1.38 trillion won, a twentyfold increase, and ruled that “Roh Tae-woo provided intangible support that helped SK’s successful management.”

A clerical error in the appellate judgment later became a point of contention. The court had initially valued shares of Daehan Telecom, the predecessor to SK C&C, at 100 won each, then corrected the figure to 1,000 won.

Chey’s attorneys called the correction “a fatal error”, arguing that the recalculated stock value undermined the entire asset-division ruling.

Although the Supreme Court’s review is limited to questions of law, both sides have continued to submit new evidence in recent months, aiming to prove that the lower courts misapplied procedure or misinterpreted the facts.

Chey’s legal team filed an audio recording of his late father, in which he can be heard saying, “The most important thing is not to be misunderstood by the public. I never accepted any favors from my in-laws.” In the same recording, he adds that after being questioned over the former president’s slush fund, “I was thoroughly investigated and cleared.”

Roh’s side submitted a letter written by Chey in 2003, when he was imprisoned for accounting fraud, saying it shows she contributed to SK Group’s business management. The letter contains requests for her advice on company matters, which she cites as proof of her role in SK’s growth.

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.
BY KIM JUN-YOUNG [[email protected]]