South Korea’s Supreme Court has given SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won a temporary reprieve in his high-profile divorce case, delaying what would have been one of the largest divorce settlements in Asian corporate history.
The court sent the case back to a lower court for further review, meaning Chey will not immediately have to pay nearly 1 billion dollars to his estranged wife, Roh So-young, the daughter of former South Korean president Roh Tae-woo.
A lower court had previously ordered Chey to pay about 972 million dollars in asset division and 1.4 million dollars in alimony. The Supreme Court upheld the alimony ruling but rejected part of the asset division, saying roughly 21 million dollars that Roh’s father gave the couple should not be treated as marital property because the funds were believed to have come from illicit sources.
Chey, one of South Korea’s most influential business leaders, controls the SK Group, a conglomerate with interests in energy, semiconductors, and telecommunications. (Newswire)