South Korean Tycoon to Pay $644 Million in 'Divorce of the Century'

Chey Tae-won, chairman of South Korea's SK Group, has been ordered by a court to pay his former wife, Roh Soh-yeong, 944 billion won (approximately $644 million) in a divorce settlement. This decision stems from the dissolution of their 35-year marriage, which became public after it was revealed Chey had a child with another woman.

Roh Soh-yeong is the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, who led the country from 1988 to 1993. During the initial trial, Roh's legal team argued that her father had provided significant financial assistance to Chey in building his business empire, including 30 billion won from a secret fund in 1991. This led to a record settlement of 1.38 trillion won in a previous ruling.

However, South Korea's Supreme Court overturned that decision last year, stating that the funds from the secret fund were illegally obtained and could not be considered marital property. Following a retrial, the court issued the new ruling of 944 billion won. Chey's legal team expressed regret for the public concern caused by the divorce proceedings and stated they would comment further after reviewing the ruling.

SK Group is one of South Korea's largest conglomerates, known as chaebols, which play a dominant role in the country's economy. The company, founded in 1953, operates in diverse sectors including telecommunications, energy, and semiconductors. SK Hynix, a key supplier to Nvidia and a leading memory chip manufacturer, is its most valuable subsidiary. The group recently raised $26.5 billion in a New York Stock Exchange listing for SK Hynix, the largest IPO by a foreign company in U.S. market history. President Yoon Suk Yeol recently referred to Chey and Samsung's Lee Jae-yong as "heroes of the Korean people" during a presentation on national AI investment plans.

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deeply regrets that the divorce proceedings have caused public concern