The remand trial for division of property in the divorce of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong has entered mediation. With the Seoul High Court setting a mediation date, the long-running dispute over division of property has again entered a negotiation phase.
The Family Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-joo, Director General) set the mediation date in the remand trial on division of property for Chairman Chey and Director Roh for 10 a.m. on May 13. After the first remand hearing was held behind closed doors on Jan. 9, the proceedings are resuming about four months later.
This mediation is seen as the court attempting to confirm, based on the Supreme Court's remand last October, whether the two sides can narrow the gap on the scope and amount of the division of property. The key issues are how far to view the assets subject to division and how to assess Director Roh's contribution. If a settlement is reached, the case can be closed without a separate ruling, but if no agreement is reached, the remand trial will continue.
In the first instance in Dec. 2022, the court granted the divorce and ordered Chairman Chey to pay Director Roh 100 million won in consolation money and 66.5 billion won in division of property. At the time, the court excluded from the division the equity in SK Corp. held by Chey, saying it was hard to recognize Roh's contribution. It found that even though the marriage was long, it was difficult to conclude that Roh directly contributed to the formation and appreciation of that equity.
The appeals court, however, changed the assessment significantly. In May 2024, the appellate panel increased the consolation money to 2 billion won and the division of property to 1.3808 trillion won. The court found that 30 billion won from former President Roh Tae-woo's side flowed into SK's growth process and, on that basis, determined that influence from the former president's side played some role in major expansion steps such as the acquisition of Taepyungyang Securities and entry into the mobile communications business. It also held that even if Chairman Chey managed and grew the corporations he inherited from the previous chairman, considering that his spouse, Director Roh, directly and indirectly supported management activities during the marriage, her contribution to the increase in the value of SK Corp. shares could not be entirely excluded.
The Supreme Court, however, last October reversed the division of property portion and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court. The Supreme Court held that even if the 30 billion won from the former president's side actually existed, as it was illegal funds it could not be legally protected, and it was not permissible to consider it as Director Roh's contribution to the formation of property. It also found wrong the appeals court's decision to include as divisible assets property that Chairman Chey did not already own at the time the factual hearing concluded. The 2 billion won in consolation money was affirmed as is.