Chey Tae-won (65), chair of SK Group, and Noh So-young (64), director of Art Center Nabi, are expected to have their divorce suit discussed by the Supreme Court's full bench this week. Attention is focused on whether the Supreme Court, where the case has been pending for more than a year, will reach a conclusion soon.
According to the legal community on the 14th, the Supreme Court's First Division (presiding Justice Seo Kyung-hwan) has been continuing its review after receiving the divorce case of Chair Chey and Director Noh in July last year.
As the review of related cases has stretched into the new year, there is a suggestion that it may be handled by the full bench, in which all justices participate. The case was handled as a report to the full bench and is said to have been examined by all the justices.
The full-bench hearing is scheduled for the 18th. However, it is known that the divorce suit involving Chair Chey and Director Noh was not formally included among the cases for review disclosed by the Supreme Court.
The key issue in this suit is whether there will be a change in the property division amount, which totals 1.3808 trillion won. Earlier, the Seoul High Court ruled in May last year, "Chair Chey shall pay Director Noh 2 billion won in alimony and 1.3808 trillion won as property division." That is roughly 20 times larger than the 66.5 billion won in property division ordered by the court of first instance.
The Seoul High Court reached this judgment reflecting the view that former President Roh Tae-woo and Director Noh contributed to the existence of today's SK Group. The appellate court found that 30 billion won, presumed to be part of former President Roh's slush funds, flowed to the late Chair Chey Jong-hyon of SK Group, and that this amount, together with the late chair's existing asset, became seed money for the then Sunkyong (SK) Group.
The basis for the Seoul High Court's finding was a memo and a bills envelope submitted to the court by Director Noh's mother, Kim Ok-suk. The envelope, on which "Sunkyong" was written on the outside, reportedly contained four promissory notes of 5 billion won each. Noh's side claims there were originally six, but around 2012 two were given to SK Group.
In response, Chair Chey's side maintains there is a lack of specific grounds. A promissory note is different from an IOU and cannot serve as proof that money was received. Chey's side added, "It was a promise of living expenses after retirement at the request of former President Roh," and said, "The timing or method of delivering the 30 billion won has not even been specified."
Chey's side also submitted an audio file of the late Chair Chey Jong-hyon as evidence in the appeal to the Supreme Court. The file reportedly contains remarks from an internal executive meeting in which the late chair said to the effect that "we strictly avoided receiving any special favors from our in-laws."
In addition, a ruling correction incident in the appellate proceedings could affect changes to the property division amount. The appellate court miscalculated the value of Daehan Telecom, the predecessor of SK Corp., at 100 won per share (just before the late Chair Chey Jong-hyon passed away in May 1998). Chey's side argued it was 1,000 won.
Accordingly, the appellate court recalculated the per-share value to 1,000 won and corrected the ruling. However, it did not change the property division aggregates (Chey 65 to Director Noh 35). If the Supreme Court revisits this part, the property division amount could be reduced.