On October 16, the Supreme Court of South Korea transferred the notable divorce of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae Won to a lower court for review, giving the billionaire a temporary victory.
Last year, the Seoul High Court ruled that Chey pay his ex-wife Roh So Yeong 1.38 trillion won (972.5 million USD) in divorce proceedings and 2 billion won ($1.4 million) in child support. This is considered the largest compensation ever in Korea.
At that time, Mr. Chey appealed this verdict.
Currently, the Korean Supreme Court still maintains the verdict on the 2 billion won allowance, but has asked the lower court to reconsider the divorce compensation.
SK Group is the second largest group in Korea, with total assets estimated at 363 trillion won (256 billion USD) as of May 2025, according to data from the Korea Fair Trade Commission.
Analysts believe that if the previous verdict was maintained, Mr. Chey could be forced to raise money by mortgaging SK shares.
In 2024, the Seoul High Court declared Mr. Chey's stake in parent company SK Inc as the joint property of the couple. Ms. Roh is also the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae Woo.
The ruling at that time raised the question of how Mr. Chey could manage such a large sum of money, when most of his net assets were in shares of affiliated companies.
The sale of SK Inc shares could cost him control of the corporation and its subsidiary SK Hynix.
The high court previously accepted Ms. Roh's case that her parents had provided significant financial support to Mr. Chey's family, helping SK develop into a large corporation.
However, in the latest ruling, the Supreme Court said the appellate court was wrong to assess the origin of this amount.
According to the court, the 30 billion won ($21 million) that Ms. Roh gave to Chey's family in 1991 was likely a bribe that the former president received during his term, so Ms. Roh has no right to request a division of assets formed from that money.
