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Corporate K-drama: A billion-dollar divorce works when shaming fails
Court ruling on battle between chaebol chief and ex-wife has implications beyond family law.
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SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won has been ordered to pay more than S$1 billion to his former wife Roh Soh-yeong as part of their planned divorce.
PHOTO: AFP
Shuli Ren
South Korea has been trying to rein in the powerful family-run conglomerates for at least a decade, with little success. But a billion-dollar divorce bill might just tip the scale. It turns one of the nation’s largest conglomerates into a possible hostile takeover target.
In a surprise ruling, the Seoul High Court told Mr Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, which churns out products from memory chips to electric vehicle batteries, to pay 1.38 trillion won (S$1.35 billion) by dividing common property, and another two billion won in alimony to his former wife Roh Soh-yeong, the daughter of former South Korean president Roh Tae-woo. The court said Mr Chey’s shares in holding company SK Inc should be considered as part of the couple’s joint property, overturning a 2022 ruling for a much smaller settlement. Mr Chey plans to appeal.
