Supreme Court: Asset Division Must Exclude "Roh Tae-woo Slush Fund"
Assigned to Family Division 1 of Seoul High Court
Retrial to Determine Asset Division Amount
The retrial of the divorce case between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Noh So-young will begin on January 9.
Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, attended the "4th Bank of Korea-Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Seminar, AI-Based Growth and Innovation" held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 5th, and had a special dialogue with Lee Chang-yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea. 2025.12.5 Photo by Kang Jinhyung
According to the legal community on December 23, the Family Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-joo) has scheduled the first hearing of the retrial for January 9 at 5:20 p.m.
Previously, the First Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Seo Kyung-hwan) overturned the appellate court's decision in the divorce suit between Chairman Chey and Director Noh, which had ordered Chey to pay Noh 1.3808 trillion won, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court. However, the Supreme Court found no issue with the 2 billion won in alimony determined by the appellate court, and thus upheld that part of the ruling.
The Supreme Court did not make a determination regarding the existence of the so-called "Roh Tae-woo slush fund," which was a key basis for the appellate court's decision. However, the court stated that even if the slush fund had actually been delivered to SK, it constituted illegal funds and therefore could not be recognized as a contribution by Director Noh in the division of assets.
As the retrial will require a new calculation of the asset division between the two, it is expected that Director Noh’s share will be significantly reduced. Consequently, SK Group is expected to see a substantial easing of its liquidity burden.
Previously, in July 2017, Chairman Chey filed for divorce mediation against Director Noh, but the two failed to reach an agreement by February 2018, leading to a formal lawsuit. During this process, in December 2019, Director Noh filed a countersuit seeking division of assets.
In the first trial, the court ordered Chairman Chey to pay Director Noh 100 million won in alimony and 66.5 billion won in cash as part of the asset division. However, the appellate court assessed the couple’s combined assets at approximately 4 trillion won, awarding 1.3808 trillion won-35 percent of the total-to Director Noh, and also ordered Chey to pay 2 billion won in alimony. The appellate court based its decision on notes and promissory envelopes from Kim Oksook, wife of former President Roh Tae-woo, concluding that SK had received 30 billion won in slush funds, which contributed to its growth.
However, in October, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial, stating that the appellate court had significantly influenced the asset division ratio by taking into account financial support from former President Roh that should not have been considered in evaluating the contributions to the asset division.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
