The remand trial for property division between Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi, has entered mediation. With the Seoul High Court setting a mediation date, the long-running property division dispute has again entered a negotiation phase.
The Seoul High Court Family Division 1 (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-ju, Director General) set the mediation date in the remand trial on property division between 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 procedure is resuming about four months later.
This mediation is seen as the court seeking to confirm whether the sides can narrow the gap on the scope and amount of property division, based on the Supreme Court's remand in Oct. last year. The key issues are how far to view the assets subject to division and how to assess Director Roh's contribution. If mediation is reached, the case can be concluded without a separate ruling, but if no agreement is reached, the remand trial will continue.
In Dec. 2022, the court of first instance granted the divorce and ordered Chairman Chey to pay Director Roh 100 million won in alimony and 66.5 billion won in property division. At the time, the bench excluded from division the equity in SK Co., Ltd. held by Chey, saying it was difficult to recognize Roh's contribution. It found that even though the marriage was long, it was hard to conclude that Roh directly contributed to the formation of that equity and its increase in value.
The appeals court, however, largely changed the judgment. In May 2024, the appellate bench increased the alimony to 2 billion won and the property division 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, based on that, determined that influence from the former president's side played a role to some extent in major expansions such as the acquisition of Pacific Securities and entry into the mobile communications business. It also held that even if Chairman Chey managed and grew a corporations he inherited from the late 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 Co., Ltd. shares could not be entirely excluded.
The Supreme Court, however, in Oct. last year, overturned the property division part 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, since it was illegal funds, it could not be subject to legal protection, and it was not permissible to consider it as Roh's contribution to property formation. It also found wrong the appeals court's decision to include in the division assets that Chairman Chey did not own as of the close of arguments in the fact-finding instance. The 2 billion won alimony, however, was finalized as is.