Largest divorce settlement in country; Court orders husband to pay Rs 8,333 crore to wife

SEOUL: Divorces happen all over the world for reasons big and small. However, the news of a millionaire who divorced his wife is gaining attention now. The incident happened at Seoul in South Korea.

A Seoul court ordered South Korean businessman Chey Tae-won, chairman of the S K Group conglomerate, to pay Rs 8,333 crore to his ex-wife Roh So-Yeong as part of their divorce settlement, the largest ever in the country.

The couple got married 35 years ago. He was not a millionaire then. The couple has three children. Things turned worse when Roh So-Yeong discovered that her husband is having an extramarital affair. Following that, Yeong filed a divorce case. The couple were living separately for the past ten years.

When the case of the two was considered, the court said Yeong should be given a portion of the shares of her husband's company. The S K Group controls 'SK Hynix', the world's second largest memory chip maker.

Yeong is the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo. The court ordered such a large amount of alimony considering the contributions of his ex-wife and her father behind Chey's business success. The family court had earlier rejected Yeong’s demand for a share of SK. Shortly, she approached the high court.

The high court considered Yeong’s father's political power and other factors that helped the growth of the SK company. The high court later accepted Yeong’s demand. However, Che's lawyer said that they would file a plea against the high court's order to pay so much for the settlement.