Chey, 65, proposed settling part of the award with SK shares alongside cash, but Roh Soh-yeong, 65, the director of the Art Center Nabi and daughter of a former South Korean president, insisted on the full amount in cash, the legal sources said Sunday.
The impasse pushed the chairman of the country's second-largest conglomerate to lodge a fresh appeal with the Supreme Court on Aug. 14, one minute before the midnight deadline.
Chey had been prepared to accept the July 24 remand ruling and close a legal battle that has dragged on for more than nine years, according to sources. But he ran into trouble raising nearly 1 trillion won within about three weeks.
He weighed selling part of his SK holdings, yet feared that a controlling shareholder dumping a large block of shares would rattle the stock price and the group's governance structure.
To bridge the gap, Chey offered to blend cash with stock, pledging to cover any shortfall should the share price fall while waiving any claim to gains if it rose. Roh's side rejected the offer and demanded strict compliance with the ruling.
Facing 5 percent annual interest from the day after the judgment became final — about 130 million won a day — Chey used the re-appeal to stave off the mounting charge while he hunts for a workable payment plan, analysts said. The court filing fee alone for contesting the full sum is estimated in the tens of billions of won.
Chey's lawyers are expected to argue that the appellate court misapplied the law in fixing both the division ratio and the size of the award. The court valued his SK shares as of April 16, 2024, the close of arguments in the divorce trial, yet still factored in a subsequent surge — from 160,000 won to 858,000 won — in setting Roh's share at one-third, a point his side calls contradictory.
SK stock has since slid more than 30 percent to around 500,000 won.
AJP Takeaways
• The dispute between SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Roh Soh-yeong is no longer over the size of the 944 billion won ($680 million) divorce award but over its form of payment, with Chey resisting a full cash settlement over concerns about liquidity and his grip on holding company SK Inc.
• Chey filed his appeal with the Supreme Court of Korea one minute before the midnight deadline on Aug. 14, 2026, staving off 5 percent annual interest of about 130 million won a day while he seeks a workable payment plan; the filing fee alone for contesting the full sum is estimated in the tens of billions of won.
• Chey's lawyers are expected to argue that the Seoul High Court, in its July 24, 2026 remand ruling, misapplied the law by valuing his SK Inc. shares as of April 16, 2024, yet still factoring a later price surge into Roh Soh-yeong's one-third share — a share price that has since fallen more than 30 percent to around 500,000 won.
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