SK chairman's divorce to cost him nearly $140,000 a day in interest

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won will owe his estranged wife, Roh Soh-yeong, over 190 million won per day in interest under the court ruling on their divorce settlement.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, and his estranged wife Roh Soh-yeong attend a hearing held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on April 16. [YONHAP]

The court ruling in Korea’s most expensive divorce case could result in substantial financial losses for SK Chairman Chey Tae-won, who will owe over 190 million won ($137,374) in daily interest to his estranged wife, Roh Soh-yeong, until the payment is completed.

The Seoul High Court ruled on Thursday that Chey must pay 1.38 trillion won in property division and 2 billion won in alimony to Roh. The ruling also specified the delay interest applied to each amount.

For 1.7 billion won of the alimony, a delay interest rate of 5 percent annually was imposed from Jan. 11 to May 30 this year, rising to an annual 12 percent from the next day until the full payment is made.

Different delay interest rates were applied to the remaining 300 million won.

Based on the calculations, the delay damages for the alimony alone amount to over 100 million won as of Sunday.

If the alimony continues to remain unpaid, delay interest of 240 million won per year, or about 660,000 won per day, will accumulate until the full payment.

For the property division amount, the court imposed a 5-percent delay interest rate annually from the day after the ruling is finalized until the settlement is completed for a total of 69.04 billion won, or 189 million won per day.

However, as Chey announced his intention to appeal the decision, the interest will not accrue immediately.

The litigation costs are projected to be the most expensive ever, according to legal experts. Chey's appeal fees amount over 4.73 billion won.

The court also ordered him to bear 70 percent of the total litigation costs, and once the expenses are finalized, a separate 5 percent annual delay interest will be applied.

“Given that the property division amount is the largest ever, one might expect the litigation costs, including delay damages, appraisal costs and appeal fees, to also be at an all-time high,” a legal expert who wished to remain anonymous remarked.

On the day of the court ruling, shares of SK jumped 9.26 percent to close at 158,100 won on Thursday, and spiked another 11.45 percent to 176,200 won on Friday, as conglomerate family disputes about shareholding and wealth could instigate aggressive purchases of the stock.

Based on the court ruling, speculation arose that Chey might sell a portion of his SK shares to cover the property division.

Roh, however, publicly stated on Saturday that she does not wish for the SK Group’s governance structure “to be shaken” from the lawsuit.

“Roh only wishes to maintain amicable relations with SK Group, cherishing good memories from the late chairman’s era, and wishes for SK Group’s further development,” her attorney said.

“Roh’s objectives are completely unrelated to seeking control over SK Group,” her side emphasized. “Even if Chey opts to allocate shares as part of the property division, there is no intent to impede SK Group’s operations with these shares.”

The couple married in September 1988. The SK chairman publicly announced an extramarital partner and a child born out of wedlock in 2015, later filing for a divorce settlement in July 2017.

After failing to reach an agreement following Roh's opposition, Chey filed for divorce in February 2018. Roh filed a countersuit in December 2019 and claimed 300 million won in alimony and half of the 12,975,472 SK shares held by the group chairman.

The two both appealed the first ruling that came out in December 2022. Roh asked for 2 trillion won in cash instead of SK shares in March of this year.

BY JUNG SI-NAE, LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]