SK Chairman Chey's $1 billion divorce settlement undergoes Supreme Court review

The Supreme Court will review Chey Tae-won's appeal of a $1 billion divorce settlement.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, left, and his estranged wife, Roh Soh-yeong [NEWS1]

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won could take a breather after the Supreme Court decided to review the chief's appeal of the lower court's ruling that ordered him to pay a historic $1 billion to estranged wife Roh Soh-yeong in the country's largest-ever divorce settlement.

The Supreme Court did not dismiss Chey's appeal, made on July 8, that pinpointed “critical errors in the division of property,” which means the case was accepted by the country's top court for detailed examination.

One of the key issues under review will be whether Chey's stake in SK Inc., around 13 million shares valued at 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion), can be seen as the joint property of the separated couple. The Seoul High Court, in May, ruled in favor of Roh and acknowledged her father's contribution in buying the stakes and ordered Chey to pay 1.38 trillion won in property division and 2 billion won in alimony to Roh.

Chey is arguing that the SK shares are “special property” received from his father and should be excluded from the division of property.

The SK chief also enthused that Roh's argument that her late father, Former President Roh Tae-woo, gave 34.3 billion won in slush funds to the former and current SK chairman in the 1990s to buy SK shares was an unsubstantial claim. He also argued that the picture of a memo written by the late Roh's wife, Kim Ok-sook, that Roh Soh-yeong presented as evidence cannot be valid proof that he received the money.

Chey submitted a 500-page appellate brief detailing his stances to the Supreme Court on Aug. 6.

Chey also argued that the value of his stake in the nonlisted SK siltron should be recalculated. Chey holds 29.4 percent of the chip materials company.

If the Supreme Court were to accept all details Chey is appealing, the amount of common property of the estranged couple would be around 2 trillion won, which would eventually drop the property division to around 572 billion won.

But if the country's highest court maintains the previous ruling, it is widely believed that Chey's disposal of SK Inc. shares is inevitable to secure enough money for the divorce settlement, which will potentially pose a risk to his management rights.

Chey holds the management rights to SK subsidiaries through his 17.7 percent stake in SK Inc., making him the holding company's majority shareholder. SK Inc. is the largest stakeholder in most major SK subsidiaries including SK Innovation, a smaller holding company that owns multiple key subsidiaries, and others like SK Telecom and SK Square, which owns SK hynix.

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