MR. CHOI TAE-WON, CHAIRMAN OF THE SK GROUP, FILED A NEW APPEAL AGAINST THE 94.4 BILLION WON DIVISION OF PROPERTY JUDGEMENT

ON 14 AUGUST, IT WAS REPORTED THAT CHOI TAE-JIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE SK GROUP, HAD FILED A FURTHER APPEAL TO THE SEOUL HIGH COURT FOR A NEW HEARING BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT OF KOREA IN THE CASE OF THE DIVISION OF PROPERTY WITH HIS EX-WIFE, LU SU-IN. ACCORDING TO A PREVIOUS COURT RULING, CHOI TAE-JIN WAS REQUIRED TO PAY LU SU-YOUNG $9.4 BILLION (APPROXIMATELY $4.51 BILLION RMB) FOR THE DIVISION OF PROPERTY. THE TEAM INDICATED THAT IT HAD DECIDED TO FILE A FURTHER APPEAL AFTER CONSIDERING A NUMBER OF FACTORS AND THAT EFFORTS WOULD BE MADE TO MITIGATE THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF THE RELEVANT PROCEEDINGS ON SHAREHOLDERS AND GROUP OPERATIONS. IF THE PREVIOUS JUDGEMENT CAME INTO EFFECT, CHOI TAE-JIN WOULD ALSO HAVE TO PAY A DEFERRED INTEREST RATE OF 5 PER CENT OF THE ANNUAL RATE, AMOUNTING TO APPROXIMATELY 47.2 BILLION WON (APPROXIMATELY 225 MILLION YUAN). THE DIVORCE PROPERTY DISPUTE BETWEEN CHOI TAE-JIN AND LU SO-YOUNG HAS CONTINUED SINCE 2017. THE SUPREME COURT OF KOREA HAD PREVIOUSLY RULED THAT THE ILLEGAL FUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LATE PRESIDENT LUTAI COULD NOT SERVE AS A BASIS FOR LU SOO YING ' S CONTRIBUTION TO THE SK GROUP AND HAD REMANDED THE CASE. ON 24 JULY, THE SEOUL HIGH COURT FOUND SK-RELATED ASSETS TO BE PART OF THE DIVISION OF PROPERTY AND SENTENCED CHOI TAE-JIN AND LU SU-IN TO SPLIT THEIR PROPERTY IN 2 TO 1 PERCENT, OF WHICH LU-JIN RECEIVED 94.4 BILLION WON, ONE OF THE HIGHEST-SCALE PROPERTY-SPLITTING AMOUNTS IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA ' S PUBLICLY REPORTED SK FAMILY DIVORCE。