It was supposed to be the absolute ultimate power couple in South Korea today. The tech billionaire and the president’s daughter building a massive corporate empire together.
They did exactly that for nearly four entire decades of very successful marriage. They raised three children and built a legacy that seemed completely indestructible from the outside.
But a sudden three page newspaper letter shattered their perfect golden illusion forever.
It happened back in 2015 when the world stopped and stared. Chey Tae-Won shocked everyone when he publicly confessed to an ongoing affair with another woman.
He openly admitted he left his wife of decades for a much younger woman. And he also revealed he had fathered a secret child with his new mistress.
The chairman of SK Group threw his entire massive reputation on the line. His company controlled telecommunications and memory chips across the globe.
The corporate giant’s confession triggered a ten year legal nightmare.
The terrible betrayal sparked what people now call the dramatic divorce of the century. Roh Soh-yeong refused to walk away quietly after giving her entire life to the marriage.
She demanded a massive cut of the empire they built side by side. The courts spent years arguing over exactly how much a broken promise was actually worth.
The highest court in the country stepped in to rewrite the rules.
They ruled that every marital asset connected to the SK Group must be counted. The court recognized that everything accumulated mattered.
This included the massive interests connected to his giant family-controlled conglomerate. These chaebols play a major role in the economy of the entire country.
The final price tag for his secret second family was absolutely staggering.
The Seoul appeals court finally ordered Chey to immediately pay his angry ex-wife a massive sum. He was told to hand over 944 billion won in cold, hard cash.
That huge number equals roughly 645 million dollars in American money. It was an absolute eye-watering penalty for the unfaithful business mogul.
But the painful truth is she originally wanted a lot more money. An earlier court ruling had actually promised her a massive one billion dollar settlement.
The chaebol family drama captivated a nation totally obsessed with corporate power.
Chey built a very impressive estimated net worth of around five billion dollars before this ruling. His fortune kept growing thanks to the massive success of SK Hynix.
That massive organization supplies memory chips utilized for modern AI technology. The expanding tech sector kept pumping his personal wealth higher.
His team watched the verdict come down and issued a careful statement. They knew the world was watching their every single move in court.
The legal war over the massive family conglomerate is far from over.
His team said “Chairman Chey Tae-won is deeply sorry in that [the divorce] proceedings so far have caused concern to many people. We will share specific response to the verdict after we closely review the ruling.”
His lawyers have expressed deep regret over the length of these proceedings. So they have not ruled out pursuing another appeal in the near future.
The billionaire remains with the younger woman who started the fire.
Recent reports confirm Chey is still in a committed relationship with his new younger mistress. The same woman he threw away his four decade marriage to be with.
