A South Korean court ordered billionaire SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay his ex-wife 944 billion won (£480 million) in a case that the national media dubbed the “divorce of the century.”
The Seoul High Court’s ruling on Friday came months after the Supreme Court ordered further review by the appellate court of the divorce case between Chey and Roh So-yeong, the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo.
The award to Roh, the director of a Seoul art museum, was lower than a 1.38 trillion won ($940 million) settlement ordered by the high court last year. Chey was also previously ordered to pay 2 billion won in alimony.
The value of Chey’s assets increased in recent months. Shares of SK Hynix, SK’s semiconductor affiliate, have surged with the global artificial intelligence boom.
“We apologise for causing concern and will decide whether to appeal after reviewing the court ruling,” said Lee Jae-keun, a lawyer representing Chey.
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The case has increased investor focus on Chey’s 17.9 per cent stake in SK Inc, the group’s holding company, and whether a large cash award could force him to raise funds through borrowing, asset sales or share pledges.
The court said Chey’s SK Inc shares and other holdings remained subject to division, as they were acquired during the marriage and both parties contributed to their creation, maintenance and increase in value.
Roh’s contributions included child-rearing, household responsibilities and external activities related to SK Group, it added.
The high court’s previous ruling was based in part on its finding that Roh’s father provided SK with 30 billion won in alleged slush funds during his presidency.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled the funds could not be recognised as a legal contribution to the company’s growth.
Chey and Roh married in 1988 and have three children. Chey filed for divorce in 2017 after revealing he was in a relationship with another woman and had a child with her.
The case can be sent back to the Supreme Court if appeals are filed by Chey or Roh. Neither attended Friday’s high court ruling.
Chey is among the South Korean business leaders travelling to the United States with President Lee Jae Myung, who is expected to meet U.S. tech leaders including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang in San Francisco on Friday to promote investment into South Korean AI and semiconductor initiatives.
