Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi, failed to reach an agreement in the property division mediation. About two months after the remand court referred the case to mediation, the mediation ended, and the two will again contest the scope of property division in court.
The Family Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-joo, senior judge) on the 15th held the second mediation session in the remand trial on property division between Chey and Roh and declared mediation unsuccessful. The mediation that day ran for about 1 hour and 30 minutes from 2 p.m. The court set 10 a.m. on the 26th as the next hearing date.
After opening the first hearing in the remand trial on Jan. 9, the court referred the case to mediation on Apr. 17. It then held two mediation sessions, on the 13th of last month and on this day, but the two sides could not narrow their differences. Only Roh appeared at the first mediation session, and at the second session that day, both Chey and Roh came to court.
The last time the two faced each other in court was about two years and two months after the final hearing in the divorce appeal on Apr. 2024. Chey arrived at the court at about 1:47 p.m. that day and said, "I hope the mediation is well formed so it can end quickly." Roh arrived earlier at about 1:39 p.m. but did not answer reporters' questions about the possibility of a settlement. After the mediation ended, the two left the court without separate remarks.
With the proceedings resuming, the key issue again converged on whether SK shares held by Chey are subject to property division. Chey's side argues that the SK shares are a special property formed through inheritance and gifts and thus are not subject to division. Special property refers to assets that were owned before marriage or acquired through inheritance or gifts and are, in principle, distinguished from marital community property.
Roh's side maintains that, given the contributions during the marriage to childrearing, household work, and management support, SK shares should be regarded as marital community property. Depending on how far the court accepts Roh's arguments, the scale of the property division could vary greatly.
Another issue is the point in time at which to assess the asset value. The valuation differs depending on whether the benchmark is Apr. 16, 2024, when the appellate hearing ended, or the closing date of the ongoing remand trial. As of the appellate hearing's close, SK's share price was around 160,000 won, and the value of SK shares held by Chey was estimated at about 2.07 trillion won. With SK's share price recently rising to around 600,000 won, the assessed value could differ by more than threefold depending on the reference date.
The couple's divorce proceedings began in 2017 when Chey applied for divorce mediation. When no settlement was reached, Chey filed a formal lawsuit in Feb. 2018, and in Dec. 2019, Roh filed a countersuit agreeing to the divorce and seeking property division.
In the first instance in Dec. 2022, the court ordered Chey to pay Roh 100 million won in alimony and 66.5 billion won in property division. However, in the second instance in May 2024, the court increased the alimony to 2 billion won and sharply raised the property division to 1.3808 trillion won. That resulted from the appellate court viewing the SK shares, which the trial court had excluded from division, as assets that contributed to the formation of marital community property.
In Oct. last year, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Seoul High Court, ordering a new review of the property division. The Supreme Court, in assessing funds of former President Roh Tae-woo—cited by the appellate court as the basis for Roh's contribution—as illegal funds, held that they could not be considered as Roh's contribution in the property division. However, it dismissed the appeal regarding the order to pay 2 billion won in alimony, making that part final.