[Invest&Law] Chey Taewon and Noh Soyoung Retrial for Divorce and Asset Division Begins on the 9th

New Legal Team for Director Noh
Seo Minseok of Haekwang Among Appointed Attorneys
Chairman Chey Retains Yulchon
Additional Appointments Under Consideration

The retrial of the divorce and asset division case between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Noh So-young will begin on January 9. As attention focuses on how the amount of asset division will be determined in the retrial, it has been confirmed that Director Noh has appointed a new legal team to represent her.

In December of last year, Noh's new legal representatives were appointed from Haekwang Law Firm: Seo Minseok (23rd Judicial Research and Training Institute), Lee Wanhee (27th), and Son Cheol (35th), all serving as managing attorneys. Attorney Lee is known to be five years junior to the presiding judge, Lee Sangjoo (17th), from Chungbuk High School in Cheongju, and Attorney Seo also graduated from Cheongju High School, maintaining a close relationship with the judge. Seo is also the son-in-law of the late Shin Geon (16th bar exam), former Director of the National Intelligence Service. Kim Jaeryeon (32nd), managing attorney at Onsesang Law Firm, has also joined the legal team. Attorney Kim represented the victim in the sexual assault case involving former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and is recognized for her leadership in promoting and protecting women's rights, having represented numerous victims in sexual assault cases.

On Chairman Chey's side, Yulchon Law Firm, which represented him during the Supreme Court appeal, is expected to continue handling the retrial. It is also reported that Chey's side is considering appointing additional attorneys beyond Yulchon.

On October 16 of last year, the Supreme Court overturned the appellate court's ruling, which had ordered a record-high asset division of 1.3808 trillion won. The Supreme Court ruled that the 30 billion won in slush funds from former President Roh Tae-woo constituted illegal assets not protected by law and therefore could not be recognized as Director Noh's contribution in the asset division. The court also determined that assets previously disposed of by Chairman Chey, such as those donated to third parties, could not be included in the asset division. However, the Supreme Court upheld the 2 billion won in consolation money, making that part of the ruling final.

The appellate court had initially set the assets subject to division at 4.0115 trillion won, but the Supreme Court decided that the amount disposed of by Chairman Chey (about 1.1116 trillion won) should be excluded. Subtracting this amount from 4.0115 trillion won leaves 2.8999 trillion won. A variable in this case is the timing of the final determination of the assets subject to division, as the reflection of stock price gains may differ depending on whether the "conclusion of the fact-finding trial" is used as the reference point. According to precedent, the standard is the date the fact-finding trial in the divorce case concludes, which was October 16 of last year, when the divorce between the two was finalized.

Park Suyeon, The Law Times

※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.