[Edaily Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Mediation in the retrial of the divorce lawsuit between SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won and Art Center Nabi Director Noh So-young has ultimately broken down. With the court declaring the mediation unsuccessful and setting a date for formal arguments, the two sides will once again face off in court over the division of assets.

The Seoul High Court’s Family Division 1 (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-ju) held the second mediation session for the retrial regarding the division of assets between Chairman Choi and Director Noh on the 15th, but failed to reach an agreement and ruled that mediation had failed. The court referred the case to formal trial proceedings and set the 26th as the date for the first hearing.

The first mediation session, held on the 13th of last month, ended in about an hour after merely confirming the positions of both parties, with only Director Noh in attendance. On this day, with both Chairman Choi and Director Noh appearing in court, their first face-to-face court appearance took place approximately two years and two months after the final hearing of the appeal trial on April 16, 2024.

Ms. Noh, who arrived at the courthouse first, remained silent in response to reporters’ questions regarding the possibility of a settlement, the Supreme Court’s ruling on the slush fund, and her thoughts on the in-person court appearance, and proceeded directly into the courtroom.

Chairman Choi, who arrived shortly after, told reporters asking about his feelings, “I hope the mediation goes well so we can wrap this up quickly.” However, he did not answer whether the two sides had narrowed their differences since the first mediation session.

After the second mediation session, which lasted about an hour and a half, both Chairman Choi and Mrs. Noh left the courthouse without answering any questions from reporters. The legal teams representing both sides also remained silent.

With the mediation between the two sides having broken down, the decision on the division of assets will now fall to the court. At future hearings, discussions are expected to focus on Director Noh’s contribution to the marriage and the scope of assets subject to division.

Particular attention is focused on whether SK shares will be recognized as part of the division.

In divorce property division, the value of the assets to be divided is, in principle, determined as of the date of the conclusion of arguments in the appellate trial. However, the value could differ by more than three times depending on whether the reference date for property division is set as April 16, 2024—the date of the conclusion of arguments in the appellate trial—or the date of the conclusion of arguments in the current retrial. Based on the closing price on that day, the price of #SK stock—which was 160,000 won per share as of the date of the conclusion of arguments in the appellate trial—has risen more than fourfold to 646,000 won.

The divorce proceedings between Chairman Choi and Director Noh began in 2017. Chairman Choi filed for divorce mediation with the court in July of that year, but when it failed to reach an agreement, the case proceeded to formal litigation in February 2018. Director Noh filed a counterclaim in December 2019, stating she would agree to the divorce.

The first-instance court ruled that Chairman Choi must pay Director Noh 100 million won in alimony and 66.5 billion won in cash as part of the property division. However, the appellate court calculated the property division at a 65-to-35 ratio, ruling that Chairman Choi must pay Director Noh 1.3808 trillion won. It also significantly increased the alimony to 2 billion won.

Last October, the Supreme Court overturned the appellate court’s ruling and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court. The Supreme Court reasoned that even if the 30 billion won in slush funds from former President Roh Tae-woo had been transferred, the funds were illegal and thus could not be considered a contribution by Mrs. Roh in calculating the property division. The 2 billion won in alimony was upheld as final.