One of South Korea's top businessmen, Chey Tae-won, has been ordered to pay his ex-wife approximately $640 million after his extramarital affair led to their divorce, reports infohub.kz.
Seoul High Court ruled that Chey, chairman of SK Hynix—a company developing chips for artificial intelligence—must transfer 944 billion won ($644 million) to Roh So-young, daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo. The decision came 10 years after Chey first admitted to infidelity.
The sum far exceeds the 2022 lower court ruling that ordered 66.5 billion won in property compensation. According to the Financial Times, the court considered the surge in Chey's stock value amid the AI boom: SK Hynix shares have soared roughly 2,500% since the divorce filing in 2017.
The award is the largest divorce payout in South Korean history and represents about 12% of Chey's estimated $5.6 billion fortune.
The case has drawn national attention, with local media dubbing it the "divorce of the century" due to the involvement of high-profile figures. SK Group, which owns SK Hynix, is the country's second-largest conglomerate, and Roh is the daughter of Roh Tae-woo, South Korea's first democratically elected president.
Analysts believe the ruling is unlikely to weaken Chey's control over the conglomerate, as he could fund the payout by selling a stake in non-core assets like silicon wafer maker SK Siltron or taking out loans backed by shares.
Chey's lawyers said they would decide on an appeal after reviewing the verdict. Roh's lawyers declined to comment.
The 34-year marriage began to unravel publicly in 2015 when Chey published a three-page letter in a South Korean newspaper revealing the affair, which resulted in a child. Two years later, he sought divorce mediation, but the couple could not agree on asset division, leading to years of litigation.