{"success":true,"data":{"id":"f3a08946-ee0c-4f83-8d37-e56a4f1d45c2","title":"South Korean AI billionaire faces $1 billion divorce payout after ‘marriage of the century’ crumbles amid affair with younger woman","summary":"A Korean tech billionaire who publicly confessed to loving a woman other than his wife and fathering a child with her could be ordered topay his ex-spouse nearly $1 billion as South Korea’s “divorce of the century” nears a decisive ruling.","content":"# South Korean AI billionaire faces $1 billion divorce payout after ‘marriage of the century’ crumbles amid affair with younger woman\n\nA Korean tech billionaire who publicly confessed to loving a woman other than his wife and fathering a child with her could be ordered to[pay his ex-spouse nearly $1 billion](https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/nvidia-sk-hynix-chips-ceo-chey-divorce-30016f65?mod=hp_lead_pos7) as South Korea’s “divorce of the century” nears a decisive ruling.\n\nChey Tae-won, the 65-year-old chairman of South Korea’s SK Group and a major beneficiary of the AI-chip boom, stunned the country in 2015 with a three-page newspaper letter saying his marriage was beyond repair and that he wanted a “clean end.”\n\nNow, as shares of SK Hynix — the memory-chip supplier whose chips help power Nvidia’s AI systems — have skyrocketed roughly tenfold since the start of 2025, the fortune at the center of the country’s so-called “divorce of the century” has ballooned, too.\n\nSouth Korean tech billionaire Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, is battling his ex-wife over a divorce settlement that could approach $1 billion. Bloomberg via Getty Images\n\nHis ex-wife, Roh Soh-yeong, the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, is demanding half of Chey’s assets. She’s asked an appeals court to value them at today’s sky-high prices — a move that legal experts say could boost her payout to nearly $1 billion and potentially loosen Chey’s grip on one of South Korea’s biggest business empires.\n\nA ruling is expected Friday.\n\n## Explore More\n\nThe case has gripped South Korea for years — blending a love triangle, a former presidential family, alleged slush-fund money and a battle over control of a major technology conglomerate.\n\nIn publicly announcing his desire for a “clean end” to the marriage, Chey quoted the celebrated opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s epic about adultery, “Anna Karenina:” “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”\n\nThe stunning admission by Chey, who’s also 65, ended a marriage that had once been hailed as South Korea’s “wedding of the century.”\n\nRoh Soh-yeong, Chey Tae-won’s ex-wife and the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, is seeking a larger share of the billionaire’s fortune. ZUMAPRESS.com\n\nChey and Roh married in 1988 at the presidential Blue House, months after her father took office.\n\nRoh initially refused to grant him a divorce, saying she intended to protect the family. She later changed course, writing that it might be right to let her husband pursue the “happiness” he wanted.\n\nThe other woman in the love triangle, Kim Hee-young, is now Chey’s longtime partner. Kim, who goes by the English name Chloe, leads a charitable foundation the couple established and has appeared in public alongside the billionaire. She’s 50 years old, according to corporate filings [cited by the Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/nvidia-sk-hynix-chips-ceo-chey-divorce-30016f65?mod=hp_lead_pos7).\n\nKim Hee-young, Chey Tae-won’s longtime partner, became a central figure in the billionaire’s sensational divorce battle. Instagram / @chloe_tnc_\n\nRoh later sued Kim over the affair and won damages worth roughly $1.5 million after a court found the relationship and the child born outside the marriage had inflicted emotional harm and helped destroy the couple’s trust.\n\nThe feud soon widened into a high-stakes battle over the origins of the SK fortune.\n\nRoh’s lawyers produced a handwritten note apparently kept by her mother that listed “Sunkyong” — SK’s former name — beside “30 billion won,” or about $23 million.\n\nThey argued the note supported claims that Roh’s father secretly provided money to Chey’s father that helped the family expand its business empire. Chey’s attorneys have denied that SK received the alleged funds.\n\nChey Tae-won, whose SK empire includes memory-chip giant SK Hynix, publicly acknowledged in 2015 that he loved another woman and had fathered a child with her. Bloomberg via Getty Images\n\nAn appeals court previously ordered Chey to give Roh 35% of his assets, worth close to $1 billion at the time.\n\nSouth Korea’s Supreme Court later upheld the divorce, but sent the property settlement back to a lower court after rejecting the use of allegedly illegal presidential money as the basis for Roh’s claim.\n\nAt the heart of the retrial is one deceptively simple question: How should Chey’s fortune be valued?\n\nChey Tae-won’s partner Kim Hee-young, who uses the English name Chloe, was sued by his ex-wife over the affair. Instagram / @chloe_tnc_\n\nChey argues that judges should use an earlier valuation, before the AI boom sent the value of his holdings soaring. Roh wants the court to use the much higher present-day figure.\n\nThat dispute has become especially costly as SK Hynix has emerged as a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in Nvidia’s artificial-intelligence systems.\n\nThe chipmaker’s shares have risen roughly tenfold since the beginning of 2025, helping more than double Chey’s fortune to about $5 billion.\n\nRoh Tae-woo, who served as South Korea’s president from 1988 to 1993, was the father of Chey Tae-won’s ex-wife, Roh Soh-yeong. Sygma via Getty Images\n\nRoh, meanwhile, has been packing up the home where she raised the couple’s three children and lived for 37 years.\n\nWhat do you think?[Be the first to comment.](https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/business/south-korean-ai-billionaire-faces-1-billion-divorce-payout-after-marriage-of-the-century-crumbles-amid-affair-with-younger-woman/#nypost-openweb-conversation)\n\nIn one social-media post, she shared photographs of her wedding dress and a childhood poster made her children showing their parents surrounded by hearts and stars.\n\nOne message on the poster read: “True love.”\n\nFiled under\n\nSPONSORED STORIES\n\nAround The Web\n\n#### Trending Now  in Business\n\n*   [![Image 34: Shocking 105M Americans are not working – more than during Covid or the Great Recession](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/135086314.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=260&h=174&crop=1)](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/number-of-americans-not-in-the-labor-force-surges-to-record-105-8m-as-total-exceeds-great-recession-covid-era/)This story has been shared 3,297 times.3,297   ### [Shocking 105M Americans are not working – more than during Covid or the Great Recession](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/number-of-americans-not-in-the-labor-force-surges-to-record-105-8m-as-total-exceeds-great-recession-covid-era/) \n*   [![Image 35: Ford worker fired for allegedly stealing $8 worth of Doritos, crackers just wants old job back](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/135190806.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=260&h=174&crop=1)](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/ford-worker-fired-for-allegedly-stealing-snacks-just-wants-old-job-back/)This story has been shared 2,929 times.2,929   ### [Ford worker fired for allegedly stealing $8 worth of Doritos, crackers just wants old job back](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/ford-worker-fired-for-allegedly-stealing-snacks-just-wants-old-job-back/) \n*   [![Image 36: New outbreak of explosive diarrhea parasite reported by FDA — with 72 cases and no known source](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/22N.NewCases.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=260&h=174&crop=1)](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/new-outbreak-of-explosive-diarrhea-parasite-reported-by-fda-with-72-cases-and-no-known-source/)This story has been shared 2,247 times.2,247   ### [New outbreak of explosive diarrhea parasite reported by FDA — with 72 cases and no known source](https://nypost.com/2026/07/22/business/new-outbreak-of-explosive-diarrhea-parasite-reported-by-fda-with-72-cases-and-no-known-source/) \n\n## Now on Page Six\n\n#### Video\n\nYou are viewing**1** of **6**images Previous Image Next Image\n\n## More Stories\n\n### Page Six\n\n### Decider\n\n### NYPost","source_name":"New York Post","source_url":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/business/south-korean-ai-billionaire-faces-1-billion-divorce-payout-after-marriage-of-the-century-crumbles-amid-affair-with-younger-woman/","url":"https://nypost.com/2026/07/23/business/south-korean-ai-billionaire-faces-1-billion-divorce-payout-after-marriage-of-the-century-crumbles-amid-affair-with-younger-woman/","author":"Ariel Zilber","author_name":"Ariel Zilber","published_at":"2026-07-23T18:56:23.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-23T18:56:23.000Z","image_url":"https://images.outbrainimg.com/transform/v3/eyJpdSI6ImI0MGZiNzBhNzMwNjYwNTM3YTQ5YzU1NzA5ZTAzMzA5MGVhYjgyODQ4M2E2MTJlYmQwMjc4NmE3ZGUxMWViM2IiLCJ3Ijo5MCwiaCI6NjAsImQiOjEuMCwiY3MiOjAsImYiOjR9.webp","category":"ai","topic":"ai","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":6,"word_count":1041,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot","language":null}}