[Edaily Reporter Choi Oh-hyun ] The ruling in the retrial of the divorce and property division lawsuit involving SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won and Noh So-young, director of the Art Center Nabi, is scheduled to be handed down on July 24.

According to legal circles on the 26th, the Seoul High Court’s Family Division 1 (Presiding Judge Lee Sang-ju) held a hearing for the retrial of the divorce property division case. This was the first hearing in the retrial since mediation broke down. The court announced that it will deliver its ruling in the retrial on July 24 at 2:00 p.m.

Arriving at the court around 9:44 a.m. that day, Director Noh did not respond to reporters’ questions regarding his stance on the resumption of the retrial or whether a settlement had been reached, and proceeded directly to the courtroom.

Chairman Choi, who arrived at the courthouse around 9:50 a.m., remained tight-lipped in response to reporters’ questions such as, “The retrial has resumed—please share a few words,” “Do you see any progress toward a settlement?” and “Are you disputing the matter while the shares have been recognized as joint property?” He simply replied, “I’ll be back after I’m done.”

Today’s hearing is the first to be held after the court’s two previous attempts at mediation failed. The court attempted mediation last May and on the 15th, but no agreement was reached.

In the retrial, the key issues are the recalculation of the property division ratio between Chairman Choi and Mrs. Noh, as well as the scope of assets subject to division. The appellate court had initially determined the property division ratio to be 65:35, but the Supreme Court ruled that the appellate court’s decision contained errors and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

On May 30 of last year, the appellate court ruled that Mrs. Noh had contributed to SK’s initial public offering, the formation of its shares, and the increase in their value, and ordered Chairman Choi to pay her 1.3808 trillion won in property division and 2 billion won in alimony. In December 2022, the first-instance court had ordered the payment of 66.5 billion won in cash for the division of assets and 100 million won in compensation for emotional distress; however, the amount for the division of assets increased astronomically in the second-instance ruling. Ultimately, the case proceeded to the Supreme Court, which quashed the ruling regarding the division of assets and remanded the case.

Previously, the First Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Seo Gyeong-hwan) accepted Chairman Choi’s appeal and overturned the appellate court’s ruling, which had been based on the premise that 30 billion won in slush funds belonging to former President Roh Tae-woo had flowed to SK. ‘While the court did not rule on the existence of the “Roh Tae-woo slush fund,” it held that even if such funds had actually existed and been transferred to SK, they constituted “illegal funds” and therefore could not be considered as a contribution by Mrs. Roh in the division of assets. Furthermore, the court ruled that 1.1116 trillion won in assets—which Chairman Choi had effectively gifted to relatives and disposed of after the marriage had effectively broken down—could not be subject to property division. Consequently, in the retrial, the amount of property division is expected to be adjusted downward from the figure set by the previous appellate court. The 2 billion won in alimony was upheld as final.

The divorce proceedings between Chairman Choi and Ms. Noh began in 2017. Chairman Choi filed for divorce mediation with the court in July of that year, but when mediation failed, the case proceeded to formal litigation in February 2018. In February 2019, Director Noh filed a counterclaim, agreeing to the divorce in exchange for 300 million won in alimony and the division of 6,487,736 shares—roughly half of the 12,975,472 SK shares held by Chairman Choi.