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SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Noh So-young, director of Art Center Nabi, appeared at the Seoul High Court on the afternoon of September 16 for an appellate hearing in their divorce case. |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] The high-profile divorce case between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Noh So-young has been pending at the Supreme Court for more than a year. Attention is now focused on whether the upcoming en banc session scheduled for this week will move the case closer to a final ruling.
Although the Supreme Court reviews legal interpretations and applications rather than fact-finding, both the factual determinations and value judgments made by the appellate court are drawing intense scrutiny.
A central issue is the existence of slush funds linked to former President Roh Tae-woo, which played a decisive role in the astronomical property division ordered by the appellate court. In May 2024, the Seoul High Court ordered Chey to pay Noh 20 billion won in alimony and 1.3808 trillion won in property division, a twentyfold increase from the lower court’s ruling. The appellate court included Chey’s SK Group shares in the divisible assets and concluded that 30 billion won from Roh’s slush funds had served as seed money for SK’s growth. Noh presented memos and promissory note envelopes as key evidence.
Chey strongly contested these findings in his appeal, arguing that promissory notes cannot serve as proof of receipt and that illicit funds, even if proven, cannot be subject to division. Noh’s legal team countered that she made both tangible and intangible contributions to SK’s growth and even submitted letters from prison as evidence.
The Supreme Court has been handling the case as an en banc matter, with a full bench hearing scheduled for September 18. Observers are closely watching to see whether the final ruling will alter the lower court’s decision.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
