Supreme Court Begins Full Hearing on Choi Tae-won and Noh So-young Divorce Lawsuit

Issue of Whether It Is Separate Property

Choi Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, and Noh So-young, director of Art Center Nabi, are entering the full trial phase in their divorce lawsuit appeal.

According to the Supreme Court on the 8th, the deadline for the dismissal of the appeal without trial in the divorce lawsuit appeal between Chairman Choi and Director Noh, currently being heard by the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Seo Kyung-hwan), is midnight of the same day.

However, the court did not issue a dismissal decision without trial by the usual business hours of 6 p.m.

A dismissal without trial means that if the grounds for appeal do not meet certain conditions, such as contesting a "serious legal error in the original judgment," the appeal is dismissed without further trial, thereby confirming the original court's conclusion as is.

Supreme Court

For the court to dismiss without trial, it must deliver the original dismissal judgment to court clerks or others within four months from the date the case was received by the Supreme Court, so that it can be served to the parties involved.

Regarding this case, which was received by the Supreme Court on July 8, since no dismissal without trial decision was made by the end of the usual business hours on the day four months later, the Supreme Court is expected to begin a full review of the legal issues involved in this case.

However, since the legal deadline is midnight, in principle, a dismissal without trial can still be made by that time. The main issue is whether Chairman Choi's SK (formerly Korea Telecom) shares are considered 'teukyujaesan' (special property) inherited from his late father. If it is special property inherited or gifted from the previous chairman and not marital joint property, it is excluded from property division.