Chey Taewon and No Soyoung's 1 Trillion Won Property Division Lawsuit Nears End as Appeal Deadline Approaches

Focus on Whether the Nine-Year Property Division Dispute Will Finally Reach a Conclusion

The nearly nine-year-long property division lawsuit between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and No So-young, Director of Art Center Nabi, is expected to reach its final conclusion soon.

Chairman Tae-Won Chey of SK and Director So-Young Noh of the Art Center Nabi attending the second adjustment hearing on June 2. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to Yonhap News Agency on August 9, as both sides have been served with the appellate retrial judgment and the deadline for an additional appeal is approaching in mid-August, a final decision on the case is expected to be reached soon. Both parties received the judgment at midnight on the 1st, and the additional appeal period is within 14 days of receipt.

If neither side files an appeal or submits a waiver of appeal within the set period, the appellate retrial ruling will be finalized, requiring Chairman Chey to pay 944 billion won to No as property division settlement. Conversely, if either party objects and files an appeal, the case will return to the Supreme Court for further review.

The legal dispute began after their marriage in 1988 when Chairman Chey publicly acknowledged the existence of an extramarital child and their separation in 2015. The case drew out from 2017 when Chairman Chey filed for divorce mediation.

In the first trial, the court classified SK shares as Chairman Chey's separate property and only awarded 100 million won in consolation payments and 66.5 billion won for property division. In the second trial, taking into account support from former President Roh Tae-woo's camp, the amount for property division was drastically increased to 1.3808 trillion won, and consolation payments to 2 billion won.

However, in October last year, the Supreme Court overturned the decision, stating that illegal funds from former President Roh could not be acknowledged as contributing to marital assets. Following this, the appellate retrial court accepted the Supreme Court's reasoning and excluded the illegal fund portion, but still recognized the SK shares owned by Chairman Chey as divisible joint property, recalculating the property division payment at 944 billion won.

If neither side challenges the ruling within the current appeal window, this property division dispute—the largest in the country's history among founding conglomerate families—will conclude after nine years since it began in 2017.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.