Abstract:
On Friday local time, SK Group stated in a regulatory filing that SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won will sell 944 billion won worth of SK Inc. shares to meet personal fund needs related to divorce property division.
Cui Taiyuan is the largest shareholder of SK Inc. and plans to sell 1.6539 million shares, accounting for 2.3% of the company's total share capital. The sale amount is consistent with the amount of money that the Seoul High Court ordered him to pay to his ex-wife Noh So-young in July this year.
On July 24 this year, in a new round of judgments, the South Korean court ordered Cui Taiyuan to pay 944 billion won in divorce property division to his ex-wife. This amount set a record for divorce property division in South Korea, but it was lower than the 1.38 trillion won in the second instance judgment of the court in 2024.
On September 9, the Seoul Family Court issued a first-instance judgment in the divorce case of Smilegate founder Kwon Hyuk-bin, with the division amount reaching 2.55 trillion won, setting a new record.
Back in 2015, Cui Taiyuan admitted in a three-page open letter to the media that he fell in love with another woman and had a daughter, announcing the breakdown of his 27-year marriage.
In his letter, he also quoted the opening line of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina": "Happy families are all alike, but unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way."
Lu Suying initially refused to divorce, hoping to keep the family intact for her three children, but she filed a countersuit at the end of 2019, demanding that Cui Taiyuan divide half of the property and pay emotional comfort.
In 2022, the court of first instance ruled that Cui Taiyuan should pay approximately 66.5 billion won as property division fee. Noh Suying believed that the judgment negated the contribution of women in marriage and family.
In 2024, the court of second instance significantly changed the verdict and ruled that Lu Suying could obtain 35% of the two people’s joint property, approximately 1.38 trillion won, plus 2 billion won in mental damages.
The Supreme Court of South Korea sent the case back for retrial in October 2025.
Noh So-young hopes that the appeals court will recalculate based on the latest valuation and award her a higher proportion of wealth. Cui Taiyuan countered that his ex-wife made no contribution to SK's recent rise, and the judge should use an earlier valuation as the basis for division, that is, before the stock prices of his companies soared.
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