[Invest&Law] Choi Tae-won Submits Appeal Brief... SK Divorce Appeal Trial Begins in Earnest

Submission of Appeal Brief on the 5th

Chairman Chey Tae-won of SK Group and Director Noh So-young of Art Center Nabi. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The writ of appeal for the divorce lawsuit between Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Noh So-young, director of Art Center Nabi, has been submitted to the Supreme Court, signaling the start of the appellate review. Given that the appellate court previously awarded the largest-ever alimony and property division amounts, the Supreme Court's ruling is highly anticipated.

According to the legal community on the 7th, Hong Seung-myeon, former chief judge of the Seoul High Court (age 60, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 18), who is the legal representative for Chairman Choi, submitted the writ of appeal to the Supreme Court on the 5th. Last month, Hong submitted a power of attorney as the legal representative for Chairman Choi. Having served as a senior judicial research judge at the Supreme Court and as director of the Judicial Support Office at the Court Administration, Hong retired honorably in February this year and has been practicing as a lawyer since March.

The law firm Yulchon, which joined as legal representatives for Chairman Choi in the appellate review, also separately submitted a power of attorney along with the writ of appeal on the same day. At Yulchon, lawyers Lee Jae-geun (age 51, class 28), Min Cheol-gi (age 50, class 29), Kim Sung-woo (age 55, class 31), and Lee Seung-ho (age 49, class 31) are listed as legal representatives for Chairman Choi.

The Yulchon lawyers who recently joined are all known to be well-versed in Supreme Court appellate litigation and family law cases. Lawyers Lee Jae-geun, Min Cheol-gi, and Lee Seung-ho, all former chief judges, previously served as judicial research judges at the Supreme Court. Lee Jae-geun also served as a civil affairs counselor at the Supreme Court’s Court Administration, while Min Cheol-gi and Lee Seung-ho each served twice as judicial research judges at the Supreme Court. Lawyer Kim Sung-woo, who served as a family and juvenile case specialist judge at the Seoul Family Court, is an expert in family and guardianship law. He handled the limited guardianship case of the late Shin Kyuk-ho, honorary chairman of Lotte Group, in 2015 and planned the establishment of the Seoul Family Court Guardianship Center in 2017. Lawyers Lee Jae-geun and Kim also acted as legal representatives for LG Chairman Koo Kwang-mo in the LG family inheritance dispute.

There have also been changes in the legal team representing Director Noh, who is opposing Chairman Choi’s appeal. On the 1st, Noh appointed former National Assembly member Choi Jae-hyung (age 68, class 13) and Kang Myung-hoon, representative lawyer of the law firm Hajung (age 68, class 13), who is in the same firm as former Assembly member Choi. Choi and Kang have been known as close friends for 50 years since their days at Kyunggi High School.

The panel to handle the appellate review has not yet been decided, but since the writ of appeal has been received, the case is expected to be assigned to a panel soon. Currently, the case is temporarily assigned to the Supreme Court’s Special Division 3.

Meanwhile, the retrial petition filed by Chairman Choi in objection to the appellate court’s ruling correction decision is currently under review by the Supreme Court’s Special Division 2 (presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi). Hong, the former chief judge, is participating as legal representative for Chairman Choi, while former chief judge Kim Soo-jung (age 49, class 31) and the law firm RIO are representing Director Noh.

Han Soo-hyun, Legal Times Reporter