Chey Tae-won ordered to pay W944b in divorce asset split with Noh So-young

A Seoul appellate court ruled Friday that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, 65, must pay 944 billion won ($642 million) to Noh So-young, 65, director of Art Center Nabi, as a property settlement in their divorce. If payment is delayed after the ruling is finalized, Chey will be liable for daily interest of approximately 130 million won.

The Seoul High Court's Family Division 1, presided over by Chief Judge Lee Sang-ju, handed down the ruling at a retrial hearing at 2 p.m. Friday. The court also ordered Chey to pay annual interest of 5 percent from the day after the ruling is finalized until full payment is made.

By simple calculation, that amounts to roughly 47.2 billion won per year, or about 130 million won per day.

The court set the property division ratio at one-third for Noh and two-thirds for Chey.

The court determined that Chey's SK shares were subject to property division. It found that both Chey and Noh had contributed to the formation, maintenance and increase in value of the shares. "Noh's household management, child-rearing and external activities on behalf of SK Group contributed to the significant increase in the value of Chey's shares during the marriage," the court said.

The valuation date was set as the date oral arguments concluded in the appellate trial — April 16, 2024, when SK's share price stood at around 160,000 won.

Noh's legal team had argued that the valuation should be based on June 26, the date oral arguments concluded in the retrial. Between the two dates, SK's share price rose more than fivefold.

The court acknowledged that SK's share price had surged sharply between the close of the appellate hearing and the close of the retrial, but said it could not rule out Chey's managerial contributions as a factor. It went on to say "share prices are highly volatile, and listed shares are cash-equivalent assets that can be liquidated at any time," adding that it would be difficult to conclude that not distributing gains or losses from share disposals after the divorce was finalized "would produce a result markedly inconsistent with the purpose of the property division regime — the fair settlement and distribution of marital joint assets."

However, the court said "the sharp rise in the share price was taken into account when calculating the property division ratio, in order to ensure a fair distribution of marital joint assets."

On the specific calculation of the division ratio, the court explained that it had considered "the assets held at the time of marriage, the circumstances under which marital joint assets were acquired, the degree of each party's contribution to the formation and maintenance of joint assets, and the length of the marriage."

The court ordered the property settlement to be paid in cash.

The court explained that it ordered the shortfall in Noh's share to be paid by Chey in cash, "taking into account that Chey's SK shares serve as the basis for his management and control of the company, as well as the title, form, circumstances of acquisition and current use of the assets subject to division."

After the ruling, Chey's legal representative told reporters that the divorce had been finalized by last year's Supreme Court ruling, concluding a marital dissolution process of nearly 20 years, and that Friday's property division retrial ruling had now been handed down. The representative added that Chey "feels deeply sorry for causing concern to many people throughout this process. We will review the ruling carefully before announcing a specific position on it," the representative said.

Noh's legal representative left the court without making a statement on the ruling.

Both sides may appeal to the Supreme Court if they contest Friday's ruling.