Tycoon Chey Tae-won has been ordered to pay his former spouse 1.38 trillion won($1 billion) in cash, making it the largest divorce settlement in South Korea’s history.
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The decision comes nearly a decade after Chey’s marriage deteriorated due to the revelation that he had fathered a child with his lover. On Thursday, the Seoul High Court ruled that Roh So-young, his wife of 35 years, was entitled to a significant portion of his company shares. Chey, the SK Group conglomerate chairman, plans to appeal the decision, with his lawyers arguing that the court accepted “Roh’s one-sided claim as factual,” the BBC reported.
The settlement awarded to Ms. Roh represented a significant increase from the 66.5 billion won ruled by a smaller court in 2022. Previously, the family court denied Ms. Roh’s request but overturned it by the High Court, ruling that the shares should be considered joint property.
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The court stated in its verdict that it was reasonable to rule that, as his wife, Roh played a role in increasing the value of SK Group and Chey’s business activity. They estimated that Chey’s wealth was around 4 trillion won, indicating that Ms. Roh, with whom he had three children, would receive 35% of his assets. Court officials also acknowledged that Ms. Roh had facilitated regulatory approvals for Chey’s business and highlighted that her father, former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, had acted as a protective shield for SK’s former chairman, Chey Jong-hyon.
Additionally, the court criticized Mr. Chey for showing no remorse for his “foul behavior during the trial,” and the new settlement took into account Ms. Roh’s suffering due to her ex-husband’s affair. Chey’s legal team said her political connections were a hindrance rather than a benefit to his business ventures.