Tech billionaire who cheated on wife ordered to pay $644 million in 'divorce of the century' in South Korea

A South Korean court on Friday ordered Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, to pay his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong 944 billion won ($644 million) in a divorce settlement, down from an earlier ruling that awarded her 1.38 trillion won ($940 million).

According to AFP, the revised decision was issued after South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered the Seoul High Court to reconsider its 2024 ruling.

The case, which attracted widespread attention in South Korea, was dubbed the “divorce of the century” by local media due to the huge financial stakes.

However, the legal battle is not over. Either side can still take the case back to the Supreme Court, meaning the deal has not yet become final.

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SK Group Share Dispute Centers

The lengthy dispute has largely centered on how the couple’s marital assets should be valued and divided, particularly Chey’s highly valuable stake in SK Group, one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates.

Chey, 65, heads SK Group, whose subsidiaries include SK hynix, one of the world’s leading makers of memory chips. The company has emerged as a key player in the artificial intelligence boom by supplying high-performance AI memory chips to computing giant Nvidia.

Chey’s stake in SK Group is now worth about $5.5 billion, according to regulatory filings and public data cited by AFP.

In its latest ruling, the Seoul High Court said Roh was entitled to a cash settlement equal to one-third of the couple’s marital assets.

“The defendant’s shares increased substantially during his management activities during the marriage,” the court said.

He added: “The claimant contributed to this increase through domestic work, childcare and community outreach activities in connection with the SK Group.”

Lawyers are yet to decide on another appeal

After Friday’s ruling, one of Chey’s lawyers said the SK chairman “deeply regrets the concern caused” by the protracted litigation, but has not yet decided whether to appeal the decision.

Chey and Roh married in 1988 and have three children together. Although they reportedly lived apart for more than 15 years, divorce proceedings formally began after Chey filed for divorce in 2017. Court-mediated negotiations later fell through, leading to a lengthy legal battle that has continued since 2022.

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In 2015, Chey publicly admitted that he fathered a child with another woman.

Roh, also 65, is the daughter of former South Korean president Roh Tae-woo and has built a career in the cultural sector, including running a digital art museum.

The Supreme Court rejected the earlier calculation of the assets

The latest ruling follows an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court, which rejected part of the reasoning behind the Seoul Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling.

The original ruling listed 30 billion won from the slush fund allegedly used by Roh Tae-woo to support SK Group’s growth, treating it as Roh’s contribution to the couple’s shared wealth.

However, in October the Supreme Court ruled that any such funds were likely to be linked to illegal bribes and therefore could not be taken into account when calculating the division of marital property.

Another major issue before the court was whether SK Group’s surge in value – driven mainly by a global surge in demand for AI-related technology after the couple split – should be reflected in the asset division.

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The Seoul High Court said on this issue: “The court took into account the sharp increase in the value of the defendant’s shares when determining the ratio of property distribution.”

The value of SK Group’s shares has more than tripled since December 2015, when Chey went public with his extramarital affair.

Separately, the Supreme Court has already ordered Chey to pay Roh 2 billion won in alimony.