Court Dismisses Injunction to Prohibit Choi Tae-won from Disposing SK Shares... Noh So-young Appeals

No So-young, director of Art Center Nabi and currently in a divorce lawsuit with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, filed an injunction request with the court to prevent Chairman Chey from disposing of his stocks, but it was dismissed.

Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group and Director Noh So-young of Art Center Nabi. /Photo by Yonhap News. Provided by Director Noh's side.

According to the legal community on the 14th, Shin Hye-sung, judge of the Family Division 33 of the Seoul Family Court, issued a decision in December last year to dismiss the cancellation of the original injunction objection filed by Chairman Chey against Director Noh.

Chairman Chey and Director Noh were married in September 1988, the first year of the late President Roh Tae-woo's inauguration, and had three children, but their marriage ended in divorce.

Chairman Chey publicly revealed the existence of an extramarital child in 2015 and announced his intention to divorce Director Noh. In July 2017, he applied for divorce mediation, officially starting the legal divorce process. The formal divorce lawsuit began in February 2018 after the mediation failed.

Director Noh, who initially refused the divorce, filed a counterclaim against Chairman Chey in December 2019, demanding 300 million KRW in alimony and requesting the division of half of Chairman Chey's SK shares, amounting to 6,487,736 shares out of 12,975,472 shares.

Additionally, Director Noh applied for an injunction to prohibit Chairman Chey from disposing of the stocks until the divorce and property division lawsuit was finalized. In April last year, Judge Shin partially accepted Director Noh's request and prohibited Chairman Chey from disposing of 3.5 million shares until the main judgment was delivered.

In December last year, the Family Division 2 of the Seoul Family Court (Presiding Judge Kim Hyun-jung), which heard the first trial of the main case, accepted Director Noh's divorce lawsuit filed by Chairman Chey, ruling that "the two shall divorce" and ordering Chairman Chey to pay 100 million KRW in alimony and 66.5 billion KRW in property division to Director Noh. However, the SK shares held by Chairman Chey, which Director Noh requested, were not included in the property division.

The court explained at the time, "It is difficult to see that Director Noh substantially contributed to the formation, maintenance, or increase in value of the SK shares, so they are considered 'separate property' and excluded from the property division," adding, "The shares of affiliates held by Chairman Chey, real estate, retirement pay, deposits, and Director Noh's assets were included in the division."

Judge Shin canceled the injunction decision related to the prohibition of stock disposal the day after the first trial judgment of the main case and dismissed Director Noh's injunction request. Since Chairman Chey's SK shares were excluded from the property division in the first trial of the main case, there was no reason to accept Director Noh's injunction request, leading to the cancellation of the original decision.

Director Noh appealed this decision on January 3. She also appealed the first trial judgment of the main case, arguing that SK shares should be included in the property division.