South Korean Court Orders SK Group Chairman to Pay Ex-Wife $640 Million
A South Korean court has mandated SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay a significant sum to his ex-wife, Roh So-yeong, in what has been termed by the media as the “divorce of the century.” The Seoul High Court’s decision requires the billionaire to pay 944 billion won, equating to approximately $640 million.
This ruling follows a directive from the Supreme Court, which sought further examination of the divorce case involving Chey and Roh, the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo. The settlement amount for Roh, who serves as the director of a Seoul art museum, is notably lower than the previous high court order of 1.38 trillion won ($940 million). In addition, Chey has been instructed to pay 2 billion won ($1.3 million) in alimony.
Recent increases in Chey’s asset value have been partially attributed to the performance of SK Hynix, a semiconductor affiliate of SK, which has benefited from a global surge in artificial intelligence advancements.
The earlier decision by the high court was influenced by claims that Roh’s father allegedly provided SK with slush funds amounting to 30 billion won ($20.4 million) during his presidential term. However, the Supreme Court determined that these funds could not be legally recognized as having contributed to the company’s growth.
Chey and Roh were married in 1988 and share three children. The couple’s marriage ended when Chey filed for divorce in 2017, following his admission of an extramarital affair that resulted in the birth of another child.
The case remains open to further legal scrutiny, as either party may choose to appeal, potentially bringing the matter back to the Supreme Court. Neither Chey nor Roh were present at the high court ruling.
In related news, Chey is part of a South Korean business delegation visiting the United States with President Lee Jae Myung. The group is scheduled to meet with prominent tech leaders such as Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Open AI’s Sam Altman, and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang in San Francisco, aiming to foster investment in South Korean AI and semiconductor initiatives.
