SK Chair Chey Tae-won Appeals Non-Indictment Over 100 Billion Won Spending Claim

SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won has asked prosecutors to review a decision not to indict a lawyer who alleged that Chey spent more than 100 billion won ($74 million) on his partner, Kim Hee-young.

Chey’s legal representatives said Tuesday that they filed a prosecutorial appeal against the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s Sept. 9 decision concerning attorney Lee Sang-won, who represents Chey’s estranged wife, Roh Soh-young. The appeal sends the non-indictment decision to a higher prosecution office for another review.

The dispute stems from comments Lee made in November 2023 during Roh’s damages lawsuit against Kim. Lee said Chey had spent more than 100 billion won on Kim since 2015. Chey later filed a criminal complaint accusing the lawyer of defamation through false statements.

Prosecutors declined to indict Lee, citing insufficient evidence that he knew the disputed claims were false. Chey’s lawyers emphasized that the decision did not establish the 100 billion won figure as accurate. They said the legal threshold for proving awareness of falsity was not met, while maintaining that the calculation itself was inflated.

According to Chey’s representatives, the total cited by Lee combined transactions they consider unrelated to personal spending on Kim. They said it included money paid to Roh and the couple’s three children, charitable donations, and assets registered in Chey’s own name.

The lawyers said financial records submitted in the couple’s property-division case showed that Chey and Kim had spent about 2 billion won in shared living expenses by the time Lee made the remarks. They also said the larger calculation included 20.4 billion won withdrawn from a Kookmin Bank account established for Roh while Chey was imprisoned, with Roh receiving a substantial share.

Chey’s side further objected to the inclusion of donations to ChildFund Korea, the Community Chest of Korea and the T&C Foundation. Those funds supported disaster relief, scholarships and welfare programs, the lawyers said. Homes and artworks registered to Chey were also improperly characterized as assets transferred to Kim, they argued.

Prosecutors found that some spending connected with Kim could reasonably be considered in evaluating Lee’s remarks. They also weighed a separate court ruling that described a similar claim as exaggerated but not demonstrably false.

The challenge adds another legal strand to Chey’s long-running divorce dispute with Roh. In a separate move, Chey recently narrowed his Supreme Court appeal against a 944 billion won property-division award. He is no longer contesting 700 billion won of that amount and is challenging the remaining 244 billion won.