Deadline looms for Chey Tae-won, Noh So-young to appeal W944b divorce ruling

The deadline for SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Noh So-young, director of Art Center Nabi, to appeal a court ruling ordering Chey to pay 944 billion won ($667 million) in a property division settlement expires at midnight Friday. If neither side files an appeal by then, attention will turn to how Chey plans to raise the enormous sum.

Legal and business circles broadly expect Chey to file an appeal to delay the ruling taking effect, given that failing to pay the full amount immediately would trigger daily interest charges of more than 130 million won. At the same time, some observers believe he may forgo an appeal to put nine years of litigation behind him and refocus on running the group.

The Seoul High Court's family affairs division ruled on July 24 that Chey must pay Noh 944 billion won in cash as a property settlement. The legal battle, which began in 2017 when Chey filed for divorce mediation, reached a conclusion after nine years — with the amount roughly 430 billion won less than the 1.38 trillion won awarded in the earlier second-instance ruling before the case was remanded. Both sides are understood to have received the written ruling around midnight on Aug. 1. If no appeal is filed by midnight Friday, the remanded ruling becomes final. Upon finalization, Chey would also be required to pay 2 billion won in consolation damages.

Business circles widely believe Noh is unlikely to appeal, given that the settlement is the largest property division award in South Korean legal history. Chey's side, however, faces not only the 944 billion won payment but also a 5 percent annual late-payment interest — roughly 130 million won per day — should payment be delayed. The decision pits the burden of prolonged litigation against the relief of resolving the legal risk.

Should the ruling be finalized, questions will mount over how Chey can raise nearly 944 billion won in cash.

Options being discussed include mobilizing available assets such as cash on hand and real estate. Selling a portion of his shareholdings or taking out loans secured by his SK Inc. shares are also under consideration, though analysts note that pledging stakes so central to the group's ownership structure would carry significant risks. Expanding dividends has also been mentioned as a potential funding avenue, but many analysts say generating sufficient funds that way would take considerable time, making it a less practical option.

Against this backdrop, growing attention is focused on Chey's personal 29.4 percent stake in SK Siltron, particularly in light of Doosan Group's recent acquisition of a 70.6 percent stake in the chipmaker from SK Group. Based on the 2.3 trillion won transaction price for the Doosan stake, Chey's holding is estimated to be worth around 960 billion won. However, analysts caution that converting the stake into usable cash would require separate negotiations as well as tax settlements and the unwinding of total return swap arrangements, making it far from immediately accessible.

Meanwhile, if the property division ruling is finalized and the uncertainty surrounding it is lifted, SK Group is expected to accelerate its business restructuring and future investment plans. Chey had previously unveiled an ambitious blueprint — through a public briefing on what he called three mega-projects — to commit 2,100 trillion won to expanding domestic infrastructure, including AI data centers and semiconductor production facilities.