November 13, 2024

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Chey Tae-won (left) and Roh Soh-yeong

South Korea’s Supreme Court has decided to consider another aspect of the SK Group chairman’s bid to overturn the country's most expensive divorce suit, opening up the possibility for the head of Korea’s second-largest conglomerate to reduce the size of the settlement.

On Saturday, the justices accepted the appeal by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, who was ordered by the Seoul High Court in May to pay his wife Roh Soh-yeong 1.38 trillion won, or 35 percent of the common wealth of Chey and Roh, in property division.

The highest court turns down 70-80 percent of appeals on divorce cases.

The Supreme Court’s had already agreed to revisit the case last month, after Chey claimed the verdict written by the high court contained a false calculation. The high court immediately admitted the mistake, but maintained the order and the settlement amount.

The issue contested in the more recent appeal is whether Roh’s father, former President Roh Tae-woo, provided a slash fund of 30 billion won to SK chairman’s father Chey Jong-hyon, former chairman of Sunkyung -- the predecessor of SK. If he did, the fund worked as seed money for Sunkyung and contributed to the growth of SK.

The high court recognized the purported slush fund based on a note made by the former president’s wife. Lawyers defending Chey denied the fund's existence, citing a lack of sufficient evidence.

Chey also has been claiming that SK Inc. stocks should be excluded from the property division as they are considered to be assets inherited from his father, rather than wealth created by Chey himself.

With the new appeal accepted, it is expected to become a lengthy legal battle again, giving Chey more time to raise the cash he has to pay Roh.

A verdict is expected in the first half of next year. Chey will then have to pay the settlement if the court makes a final ruling itself, but if the case is sent back to the high court, a final decision will take even longer.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)