SK Group Chairman to Pay Ex-Wife €570 Million in Final Divorce Ruling

Final Settlement in the 'Divorce of the Century'

The chairman of South Korea's second-largest conglomerate, SK Group, has been ordered to pay his former wife 944 billion won (€570 million) to finalize their divorce, capping a bitter, decade-long legal battle that drew the nation's fascination and exposed the inner workings of the chaebol elite.

Chey Tae-won, who also leads memory chip giant SK Hynix, and Ro So-yeong—daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo—married in 1998 in what Korean media called the 'wedding of the century.' The union publicly unravelled in 2015 when Chey announced in an open letter that he had a child with another woman. Ro subsequently sought a share of his wealth, claiming her father's early investment in SK Hynix was crucial to the group's growth. She demanded that the division of assets be based on the stock price in 2026, a move that would have given her billions of euros given SK Hynix's more than fivefold rally over the past 18 months on the artificial intelligence boom.

After a series of court rulings, the Supreme Court last year voided an earlier 1.38 trillion won award, ruling that the calculation had included funds that Ro's father allegedly obtained illegally and funnelled to Chey's father as seed money for the chipmaker. On Friday, the Seoul High Court delivered the final figure—nearly half of Ro’s original claim but still one of the largest divorce settlements in South Korean history. Chey had argued that the share-based division should use the April 2024 price, before the AI-driven spike, but the court selected a later valuation point that recognizes the chip boom while excluding wealth tied to the disputed political funds.

How Chaebol Ties and an AI Stock Surge Shaped the Ruling

The Chaebol Loop: Money, Politics and Control

The case highlights the deep entanglements between Korea’s family-run conglomerates and political power. Ro So-yeong’s father, Roh Tae-woo, was convicted in the 1990s for amassing a massive slush fund during his presidency. Her claim rested on the argument that his money, funnelled through the SK founders, provided the capital that built SK Hynix into a semiconductor titan. The Supreme Court’s rejection of that premise sends a strong signal: chaebol fortunes built with the help of illicit political funds can be challenged, but the burden of proof remains high, and the courts may not grant blanket enrichment based on opaque historical transactions.

The AI Windfall and Valuation War

At the heart of the financial fight was the astonishing rise of SK Hynix, now one of the world’s premier suppliers of high-bandwidth memory chips essential for training AI models. The stock soared from around 33,000 won in 2015 to over 1.8 million won by mid-2026, turning a personal fortune into a national obsession. Ro’s legal team pushed for a valuation that captured this future wealth, while Chey insisted on a pre-boom date. The court’s compromise—implicitly accepting a date after the surge began but excising the disputed seed capital—underscores a principle: windfall gains from legitimate technology cycles belong to the marital pot, but capital that cannot be cleanly traced to lawful origins does not.

Who Gains and Who Is Exposed

Chey Tae-won retains control of the SK empire, avoiding a forced fire-sale of a stake that could have destabilized the group’s governance. He will likely fund the payout through personal borrowings or the sale of non-core assets, shielding SK Hynix’s ownership structure. Ro So-yeong walks away with a fortune that still places her among Korea’s wealthiest women, but the ruling closes the door on her bid to become a direct shareholder in the group. For minority investors in SK Group affiliates, the resolution removes a cloud of uncertainty over potential forced share sales, but it also cements a less transparent episode: the Supreme Court’s acknowledgment of illegal political money without ordering a broader forensic review of the group’s capitalization.

Governance Signals for Korea's Family-Run Conglomerates

• For chaebol controlling families: The courts are now willing to pierce the veil of historical political capital. Families should proactively document the lawful origins of founding investments, as future marital or inheritance disputes will likely face similar scrutiny. A clean paper trail is no longer just a governance nicety—it is a financial defence.
• For divorce counsel in ultra-high-net-worth cases: The valuation date is increasingly pivotal. Legal teams must build robust arguments around what constitutes 'marital appreciation' versus 'speculative future gains' when technology cycles inflate asset prices. The Chey-Ro case demonstrates that Korean courts will differentiate legitimate organic growth from valuations tainted by older improprieties.
• For institutional investors in SK Group: The direct financial impact on listed entities is negligible, as the settlement is a personal obligation of the chairman. However, any future share collateralization or asset sales by Chey to satisfy the judgment should be monitored, especially if it touches cross-holdings that stabilize the group’s circular ownership structure. The Supreme Court’s mention of illicit funds, however, could invite fresh public or regulatory pressure on SK’s founding narrative, a reputational overhang that may affect ESG assessments.
• For policymakers and regulators: The case exposes the lingering influence of Roh-era slush funds in the corporate sector. While no action is expected against SK Group itself, the judgment may embolden minority shareholder activists to push for deeper audits of chaebol capital formation stories, particularly where founding families received early benefits from convicted former officials.