SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, and Art Center Nabi Director Noh So-young [joint coverage] 사진 확대 SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, and Art Center Nabi Director Noh So-young [joint coverage]

The nine-year divorce battle between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, 65, and Art Center Nabi Director Noh So-young, 65, reaches another critical turning point on the 24th. As the remanded trial court reconsiders the scale of the property division, it will decide whether the award, which had reached as much as 1 trillion won, will stand or be sharply reduced.

The Family Division 1 of the Seoul High Court, presided over by Judge Lee Sang-joo, will issue its ruling in the remanded trial over the property division dispute between Chey and Noh this afternoon. The court will only address the property division, excluding the 2 billion won in damages that has already been finalized.

The key issues in this case are twofold. The first is whether the SK shares held by Chey should be included in the property division. The second is how to determine the reference date for calculating the division.

EarlierChey and Noh married in September 1988 and had three children, but their marriage eventually broke down.

In 2015, Chey disclosed the existence of a child born out of wedlock, telling the media, “Noh and I have lived with a deep rift between us for more than 10 years.”

He filed for divorce mediation in July 2017, but the process collapsed. He then filed a formal lawsuit in February 2018, and Noh filed a countersuit in December 2019, saying she would accept the divorce.

In December 2022, the trial court in the divorce case ordered Chey to pay Noh 100 million won in damages and 66.5 billion won in cash as property division.

In May 2024, the appeals court sharply increased the amount, raising the damages to 2 billion won and the property division to 1.3808 trillion won.

The court found that the growth of SK Group was aided by former President Roh Tae-woo’s “300 billion won slush fund” and Noh’s contribution, and therefore ruled that Chey’s stake in SK should also be subject to property division.

However, in October last year, the Supreme Court of Korea sent the case back for a new review, saying that Roh’s slush fund was illegal money and could not be considered Noh’s contribution to the property division, even if it had flowed into SK.

At that time, the appeals court’s ruling setting damages at 2 billion won was upheld, leaving only the property division issue for the remanded trial.

The central dispute is whether Chey’s SK shares are subject to division, and if so, how the division ratio should be calculated.

Chey’s side argues that the SK shares are his separate property, formed through inheritance and gifts, and therefore are not subject to division.

Noh’s side, by contrast, argues that the shares should be treated as joint property subject to division because she supported the business by handling childcare and other household labor.

The reference date for the property division is also a major issue.Depending on whether the court uses April 16, 2024, the date the appellate trial closed arguments, or the 26th of last month, the date the remanded trial closed arguments, the valuation could differ by more than fivefold.

Based on SK’s share price on the date the appellate trial closed arguments, the stock was worth about 20.7 trillion won, with Chey’s holdings valued at around 16 trillion won. By the time the remanded trial closed arguments, SK’s share price had risen to the 800,000 won range.

If either side is dissatisfied with the remanded trial ruling, they may appeal again to the Supreme Court of Korea.

This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.