The retrial ruling on the property division between Chey Tae-won and Roh Soh-yeong is approaching a critical moment.
The “most expensive divorce case” in South Korea has seen fresh uncertainty just as the ruling was about to take effect. Much attention is focused on the progress of the retrial in the property division dispute between Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group and head of SK Hynix, and his former wife Roh Soh-yeong. After nearly a decade of judicial back-and-forth, on July 24 this year, a South Korean court in a new ruling ordered Chey to pay his ex-wife 944 billion won (approximately 4.504 billion yuan) in divorce property settlement. If the ruling becomes final, it will be the largest divorce settlement in South Korean history.
An unnamed South Korean lawyer recently told Yicai reporters that the retrial ruling in the Chey-Roh property division case is now at a decisive stage: under South Korean law, if either party objects to the verdict, the appeal deadline is within 14 days from the date the written judgment is served. “Both parties received the written judgment at midnight on August 1, so before the 15th, both have the right to appeal,” he said. On August 14, just before the ruling was due to take effect, Chey’s side filed an appeal with the court against the property division ruling. The country’s “most expensive divorce” has thus re-entered judicial proceedings and will be retried by the Supreme Court of Korea.
1. Why Continue the Appeal
In the July 24 ruling, Chey Tae-won was required to divide 944 billion won in assets to Roh Soh-yeong, and the payment must be made in cash. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, this amount is roughly equivalent to 12% of Chey’s personal wealth of $5.6 billion. South Korean law adopts a three-tier trial system; the July 24 ruling by the Seoul High Court was a second-instance retrial, not a final judgment, so both parties have the right to appeal. The 944 billion won awarded in the second-instance retrial falls between the previous first-instance ruling of 66.5 billion won and the earlier second-instance ruling of 1.38 trillion won.
Regarding the appeal, Chey’s side will argue that the second-instance retrial ruling contained errors in the application of law with respect to the property division ratio and the determination of the scope of divisible property. Chey’s legal team said on August 14: “After careful deliberation and consideration of various factors, Chairman Chey Tae-won has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Korea. We will continue to pursue subsequent legal procedures, with the goal of minimising any negative impact on shareholders and group operations.”
“Appeals to the Supreme Court of Korea are generally admissible only on grounds such as ‘errors in the application of law’, making it difficult to re-argue factual issues such as the amount of property. Since this ruling was made in compliance with the Supreme Court’s previous instructions (excluding illegitimate funds from consideration), finding a favourable legal loophole to challenge the ruling will be no easy task.” Quan Xiaoxing, a part-time researcher at the Center for Korean Peninsula Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told reporters that if the appeal is lost, not only could the original ruling be upheld, but there is also a risk that the award amount could be increased further.
The aforementioned South Korean lawyer told Yicai that the legal community in South Korea generally believes that, given that the Supreme Court remanded the case for a second-instance retrial in October last year while simultaneously issuing its opinion, and that the second-instance retrial ruling is largely consistent with the Supreme Court’s intent, the likelihood of the ruling being overturned is not high. However, he noted that, under the prospect that the outcome is unlikely to be reversed, Chey’s insistence on appealing is probably aimed at buying time to raise the 944 billion won payable to Roh, thereby avoiding overdue interest. He estimated that if the second-instance retrial ruling takes effect on August 14, then from the day after the ruling takes effect until the payment is settled, Chey would have to pay Roh overdue interest at an annual rate of 5%. “Under South Korean judicial procedures, if the Supreme Court accepts this appeal, the case review period will typically last several months or even longer; this time gap would be enough to give Chey sufficient room for fund scheduling,” he analysed.
2. Critical Period
The aforementioned South Korean lawyer also said: “The court’s ruling affirms the principle that ‘SK shares are divisible marital property’, which could plant a long-term hidden risk for the stability of future chaebol ownership structures.”
Behind this nearly decade-long divorce dispute lies precisely the critical period during which SK Group completed its transformation and rose to become a global technology giant. In the 1990s, Chey Tae-won pushed the group to diversify, entering the telecommunications field and founding SK Telecom, which grew into a leading South Korean telecom operator. In the early 2000s, SK acquired the memory business of Hyundai Electronics and established SK Hynix, officially putting down roots in the semiconductor sector. After weathering multiple industry cycles, SK Hynix secured its position as the world’s second-largest memory chip maker. During the same period, SK’s footprint continued to expand, covering energy, semiconductors, telecommunications, and biopharmaceuticals.
In the current memory supercycle driven by AI computing power, SK Hynix has long maintained a stable leading position in the industry. In July, SK Hynix also completed its initial public offering (IPO) on the U.S. Nasdaq, successfully raising $26.5 billion, setting a record for overseas corporate fundraising in the United States. On August 14, SK Hynix announced its first-half performance for this year, with operating revenue reaching 131.90 trillion won (approximately 629.295 billion yuan), up 230.8% year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent company shareholders was 134.15 trillion won (approximately 640.03 billion yuan), up 788.16% year-on-year.
Chey Tae-won said last week that next year (2027) will most likely be the year with the largest supply gap for memory chips. He described the current market as a “war for chips” and expressed regret that the excessively rapid rise in memory chip prices had triggered “chip inflation”, noting that some end-user companies had also been affected. At the same time, he stressed that he intends to build a factory in the United States and is currently looking for a suitable site.
