▲ SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong
The Seoul High Court's Family Division 1 (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-joo) will hold the second mediation session today at 2:00 p.m. regarding the remand trial for the property division between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong.
While only Director Roh attended the first mediation session held about a month ago, both Chairman Chey and Director Roh are expected to be present today.
This will be their first face-to-face meeting in court in approximately two years and two months, since the final hearing of the appellate trial in April 2024.
Today, June 15, both sides are expected to engage in full-scale discussions regarding the scale, method, and criteria for the property division.
The core issue of this remand trial is whether SK shares will be recognized as subject to division.
This is a point where the rulings of the first and second trials differed.
Furthermore, if SK shares are recognized as subject to division, attention is focused on whether the recently surged stock price will affect the valuation.
Depending on whether the reference date for property division is set as April 16, 2024—the conclusion of the appellate trial—or the conclusion of the ongoing remand trial, the valuation could differ by more than three times.
Based on the conclusion of the appellate trial, the price of SK shares was 160,000 won, and the value of the SK shares held by Chairman Chey was approximately 2.07 trillion won.
With the recent rise of SK's stock price to the 600,000 won level, the value has increased significantly.
Chairman Chey's side maintains that the shares are his "separate property" acquired through inheritance and gifts and thus not subject to division. Conversely, Director Roh's side argues that it should be considered joint property, as she supported the management while handling domestic duties such as child-rearing.
Chairman Chey and Director Roh married in September 1988 and have three children, but their marriage eventually broke down.
Chairman Chey filed for divorce mediation against Director Roh in July 2017, but after it fell through, he initiated a formal lawsuit in February 2018. Director Roh filed a counter-lawsuit in December 2019, stating she would agree to the divorce.
In December 2022, the first trial ruled that "Chairman Chey should pay Director Roh 100 million won in alimony and 66.5 billion won in cash for property division." However, in May 2024, the second trial ordered him to pay 2 billion won in alimony and 1.3808 trillion won for property division.
This overturned the first trial's ruling that the SK shares held by Chairman Chey were not subject to division.
The ruling was based on the judgment that former President Roh Tae-woo's "30 billion won in slush funds" and Director Roh's contributions played a role in the growth of SK Group.
However, in October of last year, the Supreme Court remanded the case for retrial, stating that because the slush funds of former President Roh Tae-woo were illegal, they cannot be considered as Director Roh's contribution to property division even if the money flowed into SK.
The portion of the ruling acknowledging the 2 billion won in alimony was upheld as the appeal was dismissed.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.