Published Fri, Jul 24, 2026 · 07:02 PM
[SEOUL] SK Hynix billionaire Chey Tae-won was ordered by a South Korean court to pay his former wife 944 billion won (US$643 million) in a divorce settlement that brings the long-running feud near a conclusion.
If neither party appeal, the ruling from the Seoul High Court on Friday (Jul 24) would be South Korea’s most expensive divorce in history. But the payout would fall well short of the nearly 1.4 trillion won sought by Roh Soh-yeong, the daughter of a former president. Analysts don’t believe the ruling will affect SK Hynix control.
Chey’s wealth has soared off the back of the artificial intelligence boom that’s fuelling enormous demand for SK Hynix’s advanced memory chips. The company vaulted into the global spotlight after raising US$26.5 billion in a US listing this month, a record for a foreign issuer. In just the past year, his net worth has more than doubled to about US$5.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The couple married in 1988, uniting two storied South Korean political and business dynasties before having three children together. Their relationship began to publicly unravel in 2015 when Chey revealed he had a child with another woman.
The saga captivated Koreans, and the ruling could set a precedent for recognising a spouse’s contribution to building a vast business empire, particularly in cases involving property division – a key argument advanced by Roh that the court took into account.
Friday’s settlement is nearly a third lower than the amount a lower court had ordered Chey to pay in 2024. At the time, Roh demanded more than 40 per cent of Chey’s shares in SK, which could have put his control of the company in question. She later changed her request to cash.
The court said on Friday that it had taken into account the value of Chey’s shareholdings when it handed down its ruling. Chey had argued his shares were inherited and should not be part of the settlement.
SK shares closed down 3.8 per cent on the Korean Exchange after volatile trading. While Chey doesn’t hold a major stake in SK Hynix directly, he is the biggest shareholder in SK, which controls SK Square, the biggest holder in the chipmaker.
“There were market concerns that he may be forced to sell his stake but the ruling ends much of the immediate overhang risks,” said Jung In Yun, chief executive officer at Fibonacci Asset Management Global in Singapore. Yun said the court allowing Chey to keep control of SK is critical and he could use dividends from the company to make the settlement.
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The ruling hinged on how Korean courts assess the value of a spouse’s contribution to building one of the country’s largest business empires. Roh, the daughter of former president Roh Tae-woo, argued that her family’s political support aided SK’s rise from a mid-sized energy company to one of South Korea’s largest business groups.
The settlement could set an important benchmark for how courts assess a spouse’s contribution to wealth, particularly in divorce cases involving family-controlled companies and valuable shareholdings, said Hae Jin Lim, partner and attorney at law in DongIn Law Group.
“Disputes over business succession, divorce and inheritance are becoming more common as South Korea’s corporate environment and inheritance landscape evolve,” Lim said. “While other companies may not face the same circumstances as SK group, this case could carry considerable weight as a reference for future disputes.” BLOOMBERG
