Chey Tae-won and Noh So-young Attend Final Divorce Appeal Hearing – Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Noh So-young, director of Art Center Nabi, attended the final appeal hearing of their divorce case at the Seoul High Court on the afternoon of the 16th. Pictured left is Chairman Chey entering the court, and on the right is Director Noh leaving the court after the trial. April 16, 2024, Yonhap News.
The Supreme Court has remanded the appeals court ruling that ordered Chey Tae-won (65) to pay more than 13 trillion KRW in asset division to Noh So-young (64). The court decided that the 30 billion KRW provided by Noh’s father, former President Roh Tae-woo, could not be considered her contribution.
As a result, the dispute over asset division in the divorce case will be reviewed again by the Seoul High Court. The Supreme Court’s First Division, led by Justice Seo Kyung-hwan, annulled the previous judgment that ordered Chey to pay 1.3808 trillion KRW to Noh and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court for reevaluation. However, the 20 billion KRW in alimony awarded by the lower court was upheld, and Chey’s appeal on this matter was dismissed.
The Supreme Court noted that even if former President Roh provided around 30 billion KRW to Chey’s father, Choi Jong-hyun, during his presidency, the source of these funds likely came from bribes, which are excluded from the legal protection due to their anti-social and unethical nature.
Chey and Noh married in September 1988 and have three children. In 2015, Chey publicly revealed conflicts in their marriage and acknowledged the existence of an extramarital child, leading to public awareness of their marital issues. He filed for divorce mediation in July 2017, which failed, leading to formal divorce proceedings in February 2018. Noh eventually agreed to a counter-suit for divorce in December 2019.
In the first trial in December 2022, Chey was ordered to pay 1 billion KRW in alimony and 66.5 billion KRW in asset division. However, the second trial in May of the following year significantly increased these amounts to 20 billion KRW in alimony and 1.3808 trillion KRW in asset division, reversing the initial judgment that Chey’s shares in SK were not subject to division.
The ruling acknowledged the contributions of former President Roh and Noh to the development of the SK Group. The evaluation of the 30 billion KRW slush fund from Roh also played a crucial role in the decision. The second court ruled this fund had flowed into Choi Jong-hyun’s assets, becoming the seed money for the then Sunkyung (SK) Group. However, Chey’s legal team raised issues over the lack of specifics about the timing and method of the fund’s transfer.
The remand will be reviewed by the family court division of the Seoul High Court, focusing on reevaluating contributions based on the legal judgment of the Supreme Court, which could take several months depending on the complexity of the case.