South Korean billionaire Chey Tae-won has been ordered to pay his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong around $645 million after one of the country’s longest and most closely watched divorce battles.
The ruling comes after years of legal fights over Chey’s affair, his child with another woman, and the fortune he built through the SK business empire.
Highlights
- Billionaire Chey Tae-won was ordered to pay ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong approximately $645 million in one of South Korea’s biggest divorce rulings.
- The case centered on Chey’s affair, disputed business assets, and claims about Roh’s family’s role in building the SK business empire.
- The high-profile ruling sparked fierce online debate over infidelity, wealth division, and fairness in divorce settlements.
Roh had asked the court for nearly $1 billion, arguing she deserved half of his wealth.
The decision has sparked heated debate online, with one person writing, "Team wife here! She should bleed him dry. Cheaters deserve to be punished and shamed."
A South Korean billionaire publicly admitted he had fallen in love with another woman
Image credits: YTN
The case dates back to 2015, when Chey shocked South Korea by publishing a three-page newspaper letter about his marriage.
In the letter, he said he wanted what he called a “clean end” to his 27-year marriage.
He also revealed that he had fallen in love with another woman and had fathered a child with her.
Image credits: Chris Jung/NurPhoto/Getty Images
His public confession ended what had once been known as South Korea’s “marriage of the century.”
Chey and Roh married in 1988 at the presidential Blue House, shortly after Roh’s father, former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, took office.
At first, Roh refused to divorce him because she wanted to keep the family together.
Years later, she changed her position and began fighting for a large share of his fortune.
Roh wanted half of his fortune, but the court awarded less
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Roh argued that the court should calculate Chey’s wealth using its current value after the huge rise in SK Group’s business.
She asked for almost $1 billion, saying she was entitled to half of his assets.
On July 24, the appeals court instead awarded her about $645 million in cash.
The judges calculated Chey’s wealth using an earlier valuation, before shares of SK Hynix soared during the recent artificial intelligence boom.
Chey’s lawyers said they are reviewing the ruling and have not ruled out another appeal to South Korea’s Supreme Court.
As the case continued, the courtroom battle expanded beyond the affair itself
Image credits: Hwawon Ceci Lee/Anadolu/Getty Images
Roh's legal team argued that her family played an important role in helping the SK business grow.
Her lawyers presented a handwritten note that reportedly listed "Sunkyong," the former name of SK Group, alongside 30 billion won.
They claimed the note supported their argument that Roh's father secretly provided money that helped Chey's family expand the company.
Image credits: papatonybear/Instagram
Chey's legal team denied those claims and said SK never received the alleged funds.
The dispute became even more valuable after SK Hynix, one of the group's biggest companies, became a major supplier of memory chips used in Nvidia's artificial intelligence systems.
As demand for AI technology increased, Chey's fortune also grew significantly.
Roh also won a separate case against Chey’s longtime partner
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The affair remained a major issue throughout the divorce.
Chey's longtime partner is Kim Hee-young, also known as Chloe Kim, according to The Wall Street Journal.
After their relationship became public, Roh filed a separate lawsuit against Kim.
The court later ordered Chey and Kim to pay Roh about $1.5 million in damages jointly.
Judges found that the affair and the child born outside the marriage contributed to the breakdown of the couple's relationship and caused Roh emotional harm.
Kim and Chey have continued their relationship and have appeared together at public events through the charitable foundation they established.
Chey and Roh’s case became known as South Korea’s “divorce of the century”
Image credits: chloe_tnc_/Instagram
The divorce attracted nationwide attention because it involved one of South Korea's richest business people and the daughter of a former president.
It also raised questions about family wealth, business ownership, and how assets should be divided after a marriage ends.
During the proceedings, Roh shared that she had begun packing up the family home where she had lived for 37 years and raised the couple's three children.
She also posted photographs of her wedding dress and an old poster made by their children.
One message on the poster read, "True love."
The image became a symbol of how much their relationship had changed over the years.
Moreover, the recent ruling quickly divided opinion online
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Some believed Roh deserved even more. "She should have gotten the full 1 billion,” wrote one person, while another person added, "It's also important to note that he wouldn't be this successful if it weren't for his ex-wife's money and family influence. She deserves every penny. None of his kids are siding with him."
One commenter added, "When he was in jail, she grew the company. All Koreans know his company became a huge bc of her father, who was the president."
Others argued that Chey's affair justified the payout. "Valid! Anyone who cheats should have to pay for it in the divorce."
Image credits: 노소영/Facebook
Another wrote, "Get that money. I think that divorces should be fair and equitable, but if your husband wants to humiliate you by destroying a marriage through infidelity, you get to clean out his bank account."
Some saw the situation differently. "Dude shouldn't even pay a dime. This is utter nonsense,” wrote one.
Others joked that the years-long legal battle sounded like a television drama.
"K-drama scenes unfolding n I smell a new series!"
"Lucky wife, take a money and enjoy your life," wrote one user
