(June 15): Billionaire Chey Tae-won of SK Hynix Inc.and his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong failed to reach an agreement through court mediation, setting the stage for the resumption of their long-running divorce settlement battle.
The two came face to face for the first time in more than two years, appearing in the Seoul High Court Monday. But they failed to settle their differences and the court has set June 26 to resume hearings to decide on remaining property division issues, according to a court filing.
Chey, chairman of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, is challenging a 1.38 trillion won (US$917 million or $1.2 billion) divorce bill, arguing that an appeals court overstated Roh’s role in the group’s growth. The tycoon, whose net worth is estimated at about US$3.1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, won a temporary reprieve last year when the Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court for review.
The dispute between Chey and Roh — daughter of former president Roh Tae-woo — has gripped South Korea because of the vast fortune at stake and Roh’s political lineage. Local media have widely described it as the country’s “divorce trial of the century.”
Chey said that he “hopes the mediation goes well and that it ends quickly” as he made his way into the court, while Roh didn’t say anything, Yonhap News reported. The session ended after 90 minutes, the report added.
The stakes have risen further alongside the market value of SK Group’s flagship memory-chipmaker, SK Hynix Inc, whose shares have surged more than 1,800% over the past three years on the back of the artificial intelligence boom.
See also: Starmer announces full ban on social media for UK’s under 16s
Chey, who controls 17.9% of SK Group’s holding company — SK Inc — has argued that much of the group’s value was inherited and therefore should not be subject to division under South Korean divorce law.
Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja
