This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz RM Report website at 2:01 p.m. on May 19, 2026.
As SK shares have surged recently, the "timing of stock valuation" has emerged as a key variable in the remand trial on the division of assets between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong. The value of Chey's equity in SK has more than tripled since the close of arguments at the appellate court, meaning the size of the asset division could vary by trillions of won depending on which point in time is used as the price baseline.
According to legal sources on the 19th, the Family Division 1 of the Seoul High Court will hold the second mediation session of the remand trial in the divorce case between Chey and Roh at 2 p.m. on June 15. Mediation is a procedure in which the court seeks agreement between the parties before issuing a ruling. As the first mediation session on the 13th ended at the level of confirming each side's position, discussions over the scale of the asset division are expected to begin in earnest at the second session.
The issues in this remand trial boil down to two main points: whether SK shares are subject to asset partitioning, and if they are, at what point in time the share price should be used to calculate their value.
◇ Are SK shares subject to partitioning… special property vs. support contributions
First, the two sides are at odds over whether SK shares are subject to asset partitioning.
Chey's side argues that the shares should be excluded from the asset partitioning because they are special property inherited from his late father. Special property refers to property that one spouse owned before marriage or acquired in their own name during marriage.
On Dec. 1, 2022, the court of first instance also found that SK shares held by Chey were special property. It ordered Chey to pay Roh 100 million won in damages and 66.5 billion won as an asset partitioning payment.
However, the appellate court on May 2024 reached a different conclusion. The court found that 30 billion won from the late former President Roh Tae-woo's side served as "seed money" for SK Group's growth and recognized this as Roh's contribution. As a result, it calculated 1.3808 trillion won in asset partitioning payments, about 20 times the first-instance amount.
The Supreme Court overturned this finding. In October last year, it held that because the funds were illegal, they could not be recognized as a contribution from Roh in the asset partitioning process. However, it finalized the divorce and the order to pay 2 billion won in damages, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court with instructions to recalculate the partitioning ratio for SK shares.
In the remand trial, Roh's side appears to have changed strategy. It is emphasizing that contributions in housekeeping, child-rearing, and support during the marriage affected SK Group's value formation. The fact that Roh retained attorney Kim Jae-ryeon of the law firm Onsesang, known as a women's rights lawyer, is seen as a strategy to bolster this argument.
Ultimately, in the remand trial, the key issue is again expected to be the extent to which SK shares can be regarded as assets that contributed to the formation of marital property.
◇ 160,000 won or 503,000 won… a 1.5 trillion won gap depending on valuation timing
If SK shares are included in the asset partitioning, the next issue is the valuation timing. That is because SK's stock price has risen sharply of late, greatly boosting the value of Chey's equity.
Chey holds 17.9% equity in SK, totaling 12,975,472 shares. The size of the asset partitioning payment varies greatly depending on which point in time is used to value these shares.
Roh's side argues that the value of SK shares should be calculated based on the closing of arguments in this remand trial. Under Supreme Court precedent, the value of assets subject to partitioning is, in principle, calculated as of the date arguments conclude in the fact-finding trial. Although arguments in the remand trial have not concluded, SK's closing price the previous day was 503,000 won.
Chey's side, by contrast, argues that the date should be Apr. 16, 2024, when arguments closed in the appellate court before remand. SK's share price then was 160,000 won. Some say the baseline should be the Supreme Court ruling date, when the divorce was finalized. SK shares then were 218,500 won.
Legal circles expect that if SK shares are recognized as subject to asset partitioning, the clash over the baseline date for valuation will be the sharpest. That is because the amount Roh could receive varies greatly depending on the baseline date.
On a simple calculation applying the 35% partitioning ratio the appellate court recognized for Roh, valuing Chey's SK shares at 160,000 won per share would give Roh about 726.6 billion won. Applying the recent price of 503,000 won would raise Roh's share to about 2.2843 trillion won. In other words, the partitioning amount differs by about 1.5577 trillion won based on valuation timing alone.
◇ Even if the price rise is reflected, the variable is the "partitioning ratio"
However, because the Supreme Court remanded the case with instructions to recalculate the partitioning ratio for SK shares, Roh's final ratio in the remand trial is likely to be lower than in the appellate ruling. Based on the recent price of 503,000 won, the value of Chey's SK equity is about 6.5267 trillion won. In that case, for Roh to exceed the 1.3808 trillion won partitioning payment from the appellate court, she would need to be granted a partitioning ratio of at least 21.2% for SK shares.
A legal source said, "If the rise in SK's share price is reflected, the scale of the asset partitioning could differ by several hundred billion won even considering only the stock value," and added, "Given the wide gap between the sides over whether the shares are subject to partitioning and the valuation timing, it will be difficult to find common ground in mediation."