SK's Chey Tae-won files 500-page appellate brief to fight $1 billion divorce ruling

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won submitted a 500-page appellate brief to dispute a historic $1 billion divorce settlement with his estranged wife, Roh Soh-yeong.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, and his estranged wife, Roh Soh-yeong, at the Seoul High Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on April 16 [NEWS1]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won submitted a 500-page appellate brief to the Supreme Court, signaling an intensified legal battle with his estranged wife over the couple's historic $1 billion divorce.

The appellate brief was filed Monday, a month after Chey appealed the high court's previous ruling ordering him to pay 1.38 trillion won ($1 billion) in property division and 2 billion won in alimony to wife Roh Soh-yeong in the country's largest-ever divorce settlement.

The brief reportedly presents evidence to rebut Roh's claims that her late father, former President Roh Tae-woo, gave 34.3 billion won in slush funds to the former and current SK chairmen in the 1990s in order to buy a securities firm and SK shares.

Chey is expected to dispute the authenticity of the six promissory notes and memo, written by the late Roh's wife Kim Ok-sook, that Roh Soh-yeong presented as evidence.

Chey is also expected to argue that the settlement should be adjusted to account for the court's initial undervaluation of Daehan Telecom, which was later renamed SK C&C and is now SK Inc.

The court, in its original verdict, valued the firm's shares at 100 won in May of 1998, the period just before Chey's father and former SK Chairman Chey Jong-hyun passed away. The corrected judgment raised their price to 1,000 won, significantly increasing the credit given to former Chairman Chey for the group's growth from a 12-fold to a 125-fold jump in value. Current Chairman Chey's contribution, in return, shrank from 355-fold to 35-fold.

The court corrected the errors but maintained the size of the settlement.

Chey, however, will argue that the correction must adjust the settlement because it considers shares of SK Inc. to be the object of property division.

Meanwhile, former People Power Party lawmaker Choe Jae-hyeong joined Roh's team of legal representatives ahead of the Supreme Court's upcoming divorce proceedings. Choe is known to be a 30-year friend of Jo Hee-de, the current chief justice of the Supreme Court.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]