hankyoreh

Chey Tae-won, chairman of the SK Group, and his now ex-wife Roh So-young, director of Art Center Nabi. (Yonhap)

A court on Tuesday approved the divorce of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Roh So-young, the director of Art Center Nabi.

The ruling comes seven years after Chey initially expressed his desire for a divorce.

However, Roh received a property split far less than what she asked for, and if she appeals, the couple will remain legally married for the time being.

Seoul Family Court accepted a countersuit filed by Roh against Chey, dissolving the marriage.

The court dismissed Chey’s initial suit against Roh. Finding Chey to hold responsibility for the marriage falling apart due to extramarital relations, it judged the SK chairperson the “liable spouse” and refused to accept his divorce claim.

The court ordered Chey to pay Roh some 100 million won (US$75,870) in alimony and a 66.5 billion won share of their property.

Roh had demanded 50% of Chey’s 12,975,472 shares in SK (17.37%), or about 1.36 trillion won by Tuesday’s stock price.

She also asked for a split of Chey’s shares of SK subsidiaries, real estate and retirement pension.

Roh’s current share of SK’s holding company is 0.01%, or 8,616 shares.

The daughter of late Korean President Roh Tae-woo, Roh reportedly claimed she and her father helped Chey amass his property, and that she was claiming her fair share.

The court ruled that Roh played no substantive part in the formation and maintenance of SK’s stock, or in boosting the stock’s value.

However, considering the couple’s 34 years of marriage and how they accumulated their property, the court found that some of Chey’s stocks in SK subsidiaries, as well as his real estate, retirement funds and saving accounts, were subject to division, and ordered Chey to pay Roh 66.5 billion won in cash.

The couple held their wedding ceremony at the presidential mansion in 1988, the first year of Roh Tae-woo’s administration.

In 2015, Chey announced he would seek a divorce, admitting that he had fathered a child out of wedlock.

He filed for divorce in 2017, but no agreement was reached.

Roh initially opposed the divorce, but in December of 2019, she decided to seek a divorce as well, filing a countersuit against Chey, and the case picked up full steam.

The couple have three children — Yun-jeong (34), Min-jeong (31) and In-geun (27) — all of whom work for SK subsidiaries.

The 66.5 billion property settlement is the largest known ever in a Korean divorce.

By Jeong Hye-min, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]