Choi Tae-won's Side: "At Least 114 Billion KRW Support to Noh So-young During Marriage and Separation Period"

"Chairman Choi's Full Salary, Separate Living Expenses, Credit Card Usage"
"Please Stop Media Play for False Defamation and Incitement"

Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Noh So-young, director of Art Center Nabi, are engaged in an off-court public opinion battle ahead of the appeal trial of their divorce lawsuit. On the 17th, Choi's legal team issued a statement claiming, "The assertion that Director Noh and their three children have only spent 30 billion won over 30 years is false. The amount Director Noh has received from Chairman Choi so far is at least 114 billion won."

In the statement released that day, Choi's legal team said, "On November 23 last year, the legal representative for Director Noh maliciously made a false claim that Chairman Choi gifted more than 100 billion won to Kim Hee-young, director of the T&C Foundation, who is his cohabitant," and explained the reason for issuing the statement was "to clarify the facts."

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is entering the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 17th to meet with Ahn Deok-geun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The legal team pointed out, "Regarding the claim by Director Noh's side that while Chairman Choi gifted over 100 billion won to his cohabitant, he and their three children only spent 30 billion won over 30 years, the fact that in November 2018 Chairman Choi gave 10 billion won in cash at once to each of the three children, totaling 30 billion won, clearly disproves the claim that they only received 30 billion won in total."

The legal team added, "During the 20 years of marriage and the 14 years of separation, for most of the time, Director Noh received and used Chairman Choi's entire salary transferred to her personal account. In addition, she has received substantial living expenses from Chairman Choi until recently, and the children's tuition and living expenses were paid using credit cards under Chairman Choi's name. Currently, the assets under Director Noh's name amount to approximately 20 billion won, which were formed based on Chairman Choi's salary."

They continued, "According to Director Noh's calculation method, excluding cash receipts and only summing up financial data with clear records, the amount Director Noh has received from Chairman Choi's side is at least 114 billion won. If accounts used before 2000 are also traced, the amount would be much larger."

Regarding the claim that "Chairman Choi gifted more than 100 billion won to Director Kim," the legal team stated, "The materials Director Noh's side presented to the media as evidence mostly consist of Chairman Choi's personal real estate, art purchases, venture investment funds, and social contribution donations. Claiming that all these were gifted to Director Kim is a false and distorted assertion."

Furthermore, the legal team said, "Even within the account details that Director Noh's side cited as evidence of gifts to Director Kim, Director Noh took much more money. The financial data cited by Director Noh's side includes all accounts owned by Chairman Choi since 2015, but the actual amount spent solely on Director Kim over eight years totals 610 million won."

They added, "Considering that Director Kim has been working full-time without pay at the public interest foundation established by Chairman Choi for seven years, this amount cannot be considered large."

The legal team urged Director Noh's side to stop the false defamation and inciting media play related to the ongoing lawsuit.

They said, "Since the early 2000s, Chairman Choi has made many efforts to reach an amicable divorce agreement with Director Noh on the premise of paying a large sum, but due to Director Noh's excessive demands, a smooth agreement could not be reached. We urge an end to the false defamation and inciting media play."

They added, "We will do our best to quietly conclude this without further unnecessary and noisy conflicts."

Earlier, on November 23 last year, when the first preparatory hearing was held for the lawsuit in which Director Noh claimed 3 billion won in damages against Director Kim, Director Noh's legal representative told reporters, "Even looking only from when Chairman Choi revealed his relationship with Director Kim in 2015, it was found that Chairman Choi spent over 100 billion won on Director Kim."

The representative also said, "We believe the amount is several times larger than the money Director Noh and the children used as a family through Chairman Choi's expenditures. Even from the representative's perspective, the amount was surprisingly large."

They added, "Some money went to the T&C Foundation, and cash was directly transferred to relatives' accounts or paid by card."

In response to these claims by Director Noh's side, Director Kim's legal representative stated at the time that these were fake news spread by Director Noh's side to gain an advantageous position in the property division with Chairman Choi and announced they would hold Director Noh's lawyers legally responsible.

Meanwhile, the Family Division 4 of the Seoul Family Court (Chief Judge Lee Kwang-woo) will hold the first hearing for the damages claim lawsuit filed by Director Noh on the afternoon of the 18th.