Chey Tae-won, the chairman of South Korea's corporate giant SK Group, has been ordered by a court to pay his ex-wife 944bn won (£483m; $644m) in a case local media has called the "divorce of the century". The award, which still needs to be finalised, is below the initial 1.38tn won that Chey was told to pay Roh Soh-yeong in 2024.
The divorce has gripped South Korea for more than a decade, since Chey's marriage to Roh – the daughter of former president Roh Tae-woo – fell apart after it emerged he had fathered a child with another woman. During the earlier trial in 2024, Roh's legal team successfully argued that Chey had received significant help from his ex-wife's father, who served as president between 1988 and 1993. The court determined that the strongman had given Chey 30bn Korean won from his slush fund in 1991, and ordered Chey to pay 1.38tn to his ex-wife.
“South Korean court orders SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won to pay ex-wife $644m in divorce settlement.”
But the Supreme Court overturned that verdict last year, ruling that the slush funds were illegally obtained and could not be considered as part of the couple's assets. The latest verdict comes after further deliberation over the division of assets between the pair, who had been married for 35 years.
SK Group, one of South Korea's chaebols – family-owned conglomerates that dominate the economy – began as a textile company in 1953 but quickly grew to become the second largest chaebol after Samsung. Today, South Koreans buy phone plans from SK Telecom and fill their vehicles at SK petrol stations. The group gained global prominence after its subsidiary SK Hynix, the semiconductor giant that supplies chips to Nvidia, found itself at the centre of the artificial intelligence boom. In May, the chipmaker surpassed $1tn (£750bn) on the South Korean stock market, and the company raised $26.5bn in its New York share offering, marking the largest ever listing by a foreign firm in the US.
As SK Hynix's value soared, Chey's status rose along with it. Last month, President Lee Jae Myung commended Chey during the unveiling of a landmark AI investment plan, calling him and Samsung chairman JY Lee "Heroes of Korean People."
Chey's lawyers said in a statement: "Chairman Chey Tae-won is deeply sorry in that [the divorce] proceedings so far have caused concern to many people. We will share specific response to the verdict after we closely review the ruling." The BBC has contacted SK Group for comment.