South Korean tycoon Chey Tae-won ordered to pay estranged wife US$1 billion after divorce battle

A South Korean court ruled on Thursday that SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won must pay 1.38 trillion won (US$1 billion) in property division in a divorce case against his estranged wife, Yonhap news reported.

The court could not immediately be reached for confirmation.

In 2022, the Seoul Family Court ordered Chey to transfer 66.5 billion won (US$48.63 million) in cash in a division of property as part of the divorce ruling.

The court also ruled at the time that Chey’s estranged wife, Roh Soh-yeong, would receive a one-time alimony payment of 100 million won.

At that time, the court denied Roh’s request for about half of Chey’s SK Inc holdings whose affiliates include the world’s No 2 maker of memory chips SK Hynix.

Chey holds a stake of 17.5 per cent in the equity of SK Inc, regulatory filings show, with a value of about 1.9 trillion won at Wednesday’s closing price.

SK Group is South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate in terms of assets after Samsung, according to the country’s Fair Trade Commission.

Shares in SK Inc rose 6 per cent as of 0617 GMT versus the wider market down 1.4 per cent.

Investors bought SK Inc shares in hopes of any of the involved parties buying further shares to consolidate control of the holding company after the ruling, analysts said.

Both Chey and Roh appealed the family court ruling. Roh was reported to have doubled her demand for alimony and division of Chey’s wealth to over 2 trillion won, according to local media, citing legal sources.