The first mediation in the remand trial for property division between Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi, ended without a conclusion. The court did not halt the mediation and decided to set another date for a second session when Chey can appear.
The Family Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-joo, senior judge) opened the first mediation session of the remand trial over divorce and property division between Chey and Roh at 10 a.m. on the 13th. The mediation ended after about an hour.
Mediation is a procedure in which the parties attempt to reach a settlement before the court issues a ruling. If mediation is reached, it has the same effect as a finalized judgment. Not only the amount of property division but also conditions that are difficult to fine-tune by judgment—such as the timing and method of payment—can be negotiated. If mediation fails, the court will recalculate the property division amount in line with the Supreme Court's guidance and issue a ruling.
Only Roh appeared in person for the mediation. Chey did not appear, and only his legal team attended. After the session, Roh's attorney said, "We agreed to proceed with the second mediation as soon as possible on a day when Chey can appear."
Roh arrived at the court wearing a black jacket and skirt. Roh did not answer reporters' questions such as "SK shares have more than tripled; do you think the increase should also be reflected in the property division?" and "Was there any progress toward a settlement?"
Chey and Roh married in September 1988 and had three children. In 2015, however, Chey disclosed the existence of a child born out of wedlock, and the marriage effectively broke down.
The litigation began in July 2017 when Chey applied for divorce mediation. When mediation collapsed, the case moved to a formal lawsuit in February 2018. Opposing the divorce at first, Roh filed a countersuit in December 2019 saying she would consent to the divorce, and claimed roughly half of Chey's SK shares as property division.
In the first instance in Dec. 2022, the court ordered Chey to pay Roh 100 million won in damages and 66.5 billion won in property division. At the time, the court did not broadly recognize Chey's SK shares as subject to division and viewed Roh's contribution to the formation of the assets as limited.
The appeals court significantly changed the outcome. The Seoul High Court raised the damages to 2 billion won and ordered Chey to pay Roh 1.3808 trillion won in property division. It included Chey's SK equity as subject to division and concluded that 35% of the total assets should go to Roh.
At the core of the appellate decision was 30 billion won from former President Roh Tae-woo's side. Roh's side argued that this money served as a foundation for SK Group's growth and thus Roh's contribution to the increase in the value of SK shares should be recognized. The appeals court accepted the argument and evaluated the former president's intangible support as a contribution to the formation of the assets.
In Oct. last year, the Supreme Court ordered a fresh review of this part. If the 30 billion won from the former president's side was illegal funds, the money cannot be reflected as Roh's contribution in the property division process even if it flowed into SK. However, the appellate court's decision recognizing 2 billion won in damages was affirmed as is.
The issues in the remand trial are whether Chey's SK shares can be considered subject to property division and to what extent Roh's contribution can be recognized. The recent surge in SK hynix's stock price is also a variable. The value of assets subject to division is usually assessed as of the time the fact-finding phase ends. Depending on whether the reference point is regarded as this remand trial or Apr. 2024, when the appellate proceedings ended, the division amount may vary.
If the two sides fail to reach a settlement in mediation, the scale and method of payment for the property division will be determined by the court.