SK Group: Tech titan Chae Taewon ordered to pay ex-wife $644 million in divorce settlement

The chairman of corporate giant SK Group has been ordered by a South Korean court to pay 944 billion won (£483m; $644m) to his former owner, local media reported.Definition of the century“.

The award, which has yet to be finalized, is less than the 1.38tn won that chairman Chei Teowon was told to pay Roh Soh-yong in 2024.

It has been more than a decade since he married Roh, the daughter of the former president, following revelations that he fathered a child with another woman.

The SK Group also owns semiconductor giant SK Hynix, which supplies chips to Nvidia and recently launched. First registered on the US stock market.

Chey’s lawyers said: “Chairman Chey Tae-won is deeply disappointed (by the divorce) and has worried many people about the process so far. We will share a separate response to the verdict after we closely review the verdict.”

SK Group is one of South Korea’s chaebols – the family-owned conglomerates that dominate the country’s economy.

The ruling came after discussions over property division between Roh and Chey, who have been married for 35 years.

In the year In a previous trial in 2024, Roh’s legal team successfully argued that Chey, who served as the country’s president from 1988 to 1993, received significant help from his ex-wife, his father, Roh Teo.

The court ruled that in 1991, the strongman gave Chey 30 billion Korean won from a slush fund and told Chey to pay his ex-wife 1.38tn.

But the High Court overturned the decision last year, ruling that the misappropriated funds were ill-gotten gains and could not be considered the couple’s property.

The issue gripped South Korea.

SK Group was started as a textile company in 1998.

Today it is the second largest chaebol after Samsung Group. South Koreans buy phone plans from SK Telecom and fill up their vehicles at SK gas stations.

The group rose to global prominence after SK Hynix was at the center of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. In May, the chip maker surpassed $1tn (£750bn) on the South Korean stock market.

As the value of SK Hynix has grown, the status of SK Group and its chairman Chei has also risen.

Last month, President Lee Jae Myung Chee thanked Disclosure of a significant AI investment planHe called him and Samsung chairman JY Lee “heroes of the Korean people.”

The company raised $26.5 billion in a stock offering in New York, the largest ever by a foreign company in the US.

The BBC has contacted SK Group for comment.