A Seoul court ruled Friday that an art museum headed by Roh Soh-yeong, the wife in divorce proceedings with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, should move out of the SK headquarters building in central Seoul as the company legitimately terminated the lease contract.
The Seoul Central District Court also ordered Art Center Nabi to pay 1.04 billion won (US$747,943) in compensation to SK Innovation Co., an SK subsidiary in charge of taking care of SK Seorin Building, as the museum has occupied the space even after the lease contract was terminated in September 2019.
SK Innovation filed the suit in April last year to demand the museum leave the building and pay compensation, arguing that losses were building up due to the museum’s unauthorized occupation of the space on the building’s fourth floor.
The museum, which moved into the building in 2000, claimed that the contract cannot be unilaterally terminated unless it committed acts that go against the purpose of the contract, and that SK’s demand is unfair becau
se it is related to the divorce suit between Roh and the SK chairman.
Roh has also claimed the demand for eviction is excessive, saying the value of the art center should be protected as a cultural facility storing artworks, and that she, as the director of the center, holds the responsibility to consider the interests of her employees.
But the court ruled in favor of SK, saying the company legitimately terminated the contract.
“As the plaintiff has terminated the contract with due process according to the predetermined end date, the defendant has an obligation to hand over the property,” the court said, adding SK Innovation had notified the defendant of the end date.
The court also ordered the museum to pay roughly 24.9 million won each month to the plaintiff as maintenance and rent until the eviction is complete.
Roh’s legal representative said they will deliberate whether to appeal the decision to a higher court.
In South Korea’s most expensive divorce suit, the Seoul High Court ordered Chey late las
t month to pay Roh 1.38 trillion won in property division, in addition to 2 billion won in alimony, the largest known property division for a divorce in the country.
Chey has appealed the decision with the Supreme Court.
Source: Yonhap News Agency