South Korean court orders SK Group chairman to pay ex-wife 9.44 trillion won in landmark divorce case

Original author: Zhang Yaqi

Source: Wall Street Journal

A political and business merger once dubbed the "wedding of the century" is ending in the most expensive divorce in South Korean history.

On July 24, the Seoul High Court ruled that SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won must pay his former wife, Roh Soo-young, 944 billion Korean won, approximately $6.43 billion, in marital property division — marking the most expensive divorce settlement in South Korean judicial history.

The case has lasted nearly a decade—from the initial 2022 ruling of $500 million, to the 2024 appellate court decision of nearly $1 billion, and finally to this figure after the Supreme Court sent it back for reconsideration.

The issue is not just “how much to pay,” but also whether Choi Tae-won will settle the payment in cash, shares, loans, or asset disposals, and whether this will affect his control stability over the SK Group. Analysts note that to raise the compensation, Choi Tae-won may face options such as securing loans or selling assets, but his core control over the SK Group is unlikely to be weakened in the short term.

The Wall Street Journal called it the "divorce of the century," and Bloomberg questioned on the day of the ruling whether the payment would be in cash or stock. Foreign media headlines were even more direct: "A Real-Life Korean Drama: Money, Romance, Corruption, and Betrayal Intertwined."

But in 1988, no one would have imagined this.

In 1988, shortly after the Seoul Olympics concluded and South Korea had just transitioned to democracy, Roh Tae-woo’s daughter, Roh Soo-young, married Choi Tae-won, the nephew of SK Group’s founder, at the Blue House presidential residence. The then Prime Minister Lee Hyun-jae officiated the ceremony, which South Korean media dubbed the "wedding of the century."

They met while studying for their graduate degrees at the University of Chicago. This marriage tied together political power and a business empire—a signal in its own right in Korea of that era.

The couple has three children, all of whom worked at SK subsidiaries after reaching adulthood.

Until 2015, everything began to fall apart.

In December 2015, Choi Tae-won published a three-page open letter in a South Korean newspaper, acknowledging his affair with another woman and the birth of a son.

He quoted the opening line of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina:

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

He said his 27-year marriage to Lee Soo-young could no longer be salvaged, and he hoped to "end it cleanly."

Four months before this letter was sent—in August 2015—he had just been released from prison under a presidential pardon. This was his second pardon.

So-yeong Ro's reaction at the time was widely reported by South Korean media. She told those around her that she might have been too selfish and not considerate enough of her husband. She later told the media:

I will not get divorced.

She finally agreed to the divorce in 2019.

Before the divorce case became prominent, Choi Tae-won had two earlier legal records.

In 2003, he was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal stock trading and accounting fraud, released on bail months later, had his sentence commuted to probation, and later received a presidential pardon with his record expunged. In 2013, he was sentenced to four years for embezzling approximately $42 million in company funds (used to cover personal investment losses). The judge criticized him in court for "lacking genuine awareness of his responsibilities."

Choi Tae-won denied the charges in court, stating that the transactions in question were legitimate corporate investments. "I don't know what else I need to prove, but I can honestly say I did not commit this crime."

During his imprisonment, he did two things: consolidated control over SK Holdings through the merger of two subsidiaries under SK, and published a 229-page book titled "New Exploration: Social Enterprise," discussing how the government can incentivize businesses to participate in solving social issues.

He received a presidential pardon for the second time in August 2015. Four months later, he announced his divorce in a newspaper.

In 2018, Choi Tae-won and his current partner, Kim Hee-young (English name: Chloe, age 50), co-founded the T&C Foundation to support youth scholarships and educational programs. In 2019, the two made their first public appearance together. At the event, Choi Tae-won said: "I reflected on my past and realized I had been living wrongly."

If SK Hynesis had not ridden the AI wave, the amount in this case might have been on another scale.

SK Hynix is a leading global supplier of HBM, a critical hardware component for training large models. Since early 2025, SK Hynix's stock price has increased nearly tenfold. By the end of May, the company's market capitalization surpassed $1 trillion. On July 10, Choi Tae-won rang the NASDAQ bell as SK Hynix completed its U.S. listing, raising approximately $26 billion.

The Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that Choi Tae-won's personal net worth is approximately $5.6 billion, more than doubling in the past year. Last month, he had whiskey with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at a chicken restaurant in Seoul, during which Choi offered to pay for everyone’s meal. He previously met with Trump on a golf course, and President Biden publicly referred to him as a "good friend" during his 2022 visit to Korea.

The rapid growth of these figures has directly altered the course of the divorce case. Su-yeong’s side argues that SK Hynix’s surge occurred during a phase grounded in the marital period, and dividing it based on its value at the time of divorce would be unfair; an updated valuation should be used.

In 2022, the first-instance ruling awarded approximately $500 million; Roh Soo-yeong appealed, arguing that this "denied women's contributions to the family." In 2024, the appellate court revised the ruling to 35% of assets, equivalent to nearly $1 billion at the time. Choi Tae-won’s side argued that Roh Soo-yeong contributed nothing to SK’s recent success and that the valuation should be based on pre-AI market conditions.

After the Supreme Court remanded the case, the Seoul High Court ruled on July 24, 2026, for 944 billion KRW.

On the day of the ruling, Bloomberg raised the core issue: whether the payment would be in cash or stock—directly impacting Choi Tae-won’s control over the SK Group.

Choi Tae-won directly holds 17.9% of SK Corp., the holding company of the SK Group. According to Bloomberg, analysts suggest that if the judgment amount is enforced in cash, Choi Tae-won may need to take on significant debt or sell part of his assets; however, the control structure of the SK Group is unlikely to be disrupted in the short term.

So Young-ryeol's identity extends far beyond that of a party in the divorce case.

She operates Art Center Nabi, South Korea’s first media art museum. The center was initially located within SK’s headquarters building. In 2023, an SK subsidiary accused the art center of "illegal occupation" citing the expiration of its lease agreement. This June, she relocated the art center near the former royal palace in Seoul, opening with an exhibition titled "A Pregnant Pause".

She has given lectures at the University of Cambridge. When she moved out of the home where she had lived for 37 years last year, she shared photos of old items on social media, including her wedding dress, handbags, and a wedding poster made by her three children when they were young—the children had cut out photos of the couple and pasted them onto paper wedding dresses and tuxedos, drawing hearts and stars beside them with the words "Love Actually."

In October 2024, Choi Tae-won and Ro Soo-young attended the wedding of their youngest daughter. The daughter walked down the aisle alone. Of their three children, only one remains employed at an SK subsidiary.

The logic behind this divorce ruling reflects several deeper issues in Korean society.

The relationship between the conglomerate and the judiciary is the first sensitive point. Choi Tae-won was imprisoned twice and granted presidential pardons twice. Whether it was the illegal transaction case in 2003 or the embezzlement case in 2013, both were ultimately cleared through pardons. This cycle was repeatedly referenced during the ongoing divorce case.

How to value marital contributions is the second point of contention. The legal team representing No Soo-young submitted evidence including whether the Roh Tae-woo administration granted special favors during SK’s acquisition of South Korea’s second mobile telecommunications license in 1992. At the time, Kim Dae-jung, then leader of the opposition, publicly criticized it as "an outrageous act of presidential nepotism," and there was also dissent within the ruling party. SK subsequently returned the license.

The Lee Soo-young side also submitted a handwritten note indicating that the Roh Tae-woo administration had transferred 30 billion Korean won (approximately $230 million) to SK. SK denied receiving the funds. However, the appellate court accepted the evidence and determined that Lee Soo-young made a "substantial contribution" to the development of the SK Group—a finding that directly influenced the division ratio in all previous rulings.

The situation of women in elite marriages is the third perspective. After her husband publicly cheated in 2015, No Soo-young’s first reaction was self-reflection rather than retaliation—“Was I too selfish?”—a statement that sparked discussion in Korea about women’s roles in marriage.

The ruling of 94.4 billion won is still appealable. But the larger variable lies outside the courtroom.

SK Hynix's AI-driven market momentum shows no signs of ending. The company recently announced an additional investment of over $250 billion in South Korea to expand production, with President Yoon Suk Yeol calling Choi Tae-won and Samsung’s chairman "heroes for the nation and its people."

If SK Hynix's stock price continues to rise, will Lee Soo-young's side request a recalculation of the division amount based on the updated market value? What changes would occur in SK Group's equity structure if Choi Tae-won is forced to sell shares to raise cash?

The Wall Street Journal quoted Lu Suying’s social media post from last November at the end of its report, in which she wrote while moving out of her old home: "Now that I’m over 60, everything has become precious."