On November 26, 2024, at the Walkerhill Hotel in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Korean Higher Education Foundation. As the venue lights dimmed, an AI video appeared on the screen. The image showed Choi Joon-hyeon, the second-generation chairman of the SK Group and the founder of this foundation.

In 1998, he passed away suddenly in Los Angeles, 26 years ago. In the AI video, he spoke again, addressing the young people who had received foundation scholarships to study abroad, saying, "Plant the seed in your heart, hoping that you will have a dream of growing into a big tree; we are willing to wait for the seed you plant to grow into a tree."

Sitting at the central table below the stage were his son, Choi Tae-won, the current chairman of the SK Group and the leader of the second-largest chaebol in South Korea, along with the two children he brought to witness this scene, his eldest daughter, Choi Yun-jung, and his eldest son, Choi In-geon. Choi Tae-won later explained to the media why he brought them, saying, "This is our legacy, so they need to undergo training. They need to see what their grandfather did and what their father did." He described it as a "mandatory requirement for them to participate." He also mentioned the concept of "gratitude for blessings received": when drinking water, one should think about where the water comes from, and the beneficiaries should remember the person who originally dug the well.

SK Hynix surged 700% in the past year, with a market value just exceeding 100 trillion Korean won, surpassing its longtime rival Samsung Electronics, making it the most valuable asset in the history of South Korean chaebols. As the AI era propelled Hynix to the most prominent position in the South Korean capital market, when the outside world looked back to find the heir of this company, they discovered that the third generation of SK did not follow the traditional chaebol script. The eldest daughter was the first to enter the group's senior executive narrative, the second daughter was most deeply connected to Hynix, Washington, and the U.S. military network, and the eldest son, who appeared most like the heir, turned out to be the quietest one.

After the Surge of Hynix, the Old Script of Succession for South Korean Chaebol Heirs Failed

The succession of South Korean chaebols has roughly been associated with four key words: eldest son, equity, marital ties, and father's approval. Samsung, Hyundai, and Hanhwa have all repeated this script.

In October 2022, Lee Jae-yong, the third generation of the Samsung Group, was officially appointed as chairman, completing Samsung's generational transfer; his eldest son, Lee Ji-ho, recently enrolled in the South Korean Naval Academy to prepare in advance for military service, which itself is a "succession training move" for the new generation of South Korean chaebol heirs. Hyundai Motor Group followed slightly later, with Chung Eui-sun, the third generation, taking over in 2020. Hanhwa Group, in 2025, saw Chairman Kim Seong-won transfer half of the holding company's shares to his three sons, effectively handing over the empire to the current vice chairman, Kim Dong-gwan, who is 42 years old and has never been doubted as the eldest son.

The core of this script is "to let the public and the market recognize in advance who the crown prince is." From Lee Jae-yong to Chung Eui-sun and then to Kim Dong-gwan, regardless of differences in personality, abilities, or paths, they have all been collectively identified by their fathers, families, and the media as the "heir," and have gradually moved towards that seat through shares, military service, education, and professional training.

SK is different. Chey Tae-won has three children with his ex-wife, Roh Soo-young: eldest daughter Chey Yoon-jung (born in 1989), second daughter Chey Min-jung (born in 1991), and eldest son Chey In-geon (born in 1995). All three children are currently involved with the group's future, but none of them can fill the position of the "crown prince."

Chey Yoon-jung was early on dubbed by the South Korean financial media as the "most obvious successor," but she is involved in SK Biopharmaceuticals, not in chips; Chey Min-jung previously worked at SK Hynix's U.S. branch handling international trade and policy responses, but in 2022, she left Hynix to pursue medical entrepreneurship in San Francisco; Chey In-geon is most like a traditional male heir, but in July 2025, he left SK E&S to join McKinsey's Seoul office. Following the tradition of South Korean chaebol third generations, a consulting firm is seen as the path of "external training," rather than a direct inheritance directive.

In a 2021 interview on the BBC Korean Service, Chey Tae-won himself put it plainly, saying, "Nothing has been decided yet. My children also need to strive for opportunities. My son is still young and will live his own life; I will not force him." When asked if board approval is needed for his children to participate in management, he answered, "Yes."

This statement has turned inheritance from a family matter into a public legitimacy test. All three children have to prove themselves, and what they can use to prove themselves is no longer just their ownership, family connections, or status as the eldest son.

Chey Yoon-jung: "The Most Obvious Heir," From the Lab to the Boardroom

On June 28, 2024, at the SKMS Research Institute in Yuseong, Gyeonggi Province, a strategic management meeting was held by SK Group. Attendees included CEOs of major subsidiaries such as SK, SK Innovation, SK Telecom, SK Hynix, along with key family members, totaling more than 30 people. Chey Tae-won was on a business trip in the U.S. and participated via video. The meeting was described by the Korean media as an intensive discussion with a sense of crisis, scheduled for a 2-day, 1-night stay, with the first day having "no preset end time" until a direction was established.

Chey Yoon-jung sat at the table. She was the only one at the meeting as Chey Tae-won's child and is the youngest executive within the SK Group. The media explained her "sudden appearance" as part of an executive training course.

To understand why she was able to sit at that table, we need to look back at her training. Born in August 1989 at Seoul National Military Hospital in South Korea, Chey Yoon-jung's maternal grandfather, Roh Tae-woo, was the incumbent President of South Korea at the time. She spent her childhood and high school years in Beijing attending an international school, and then went to the University of Chicago for her undergraduate studies in biology, the same university where her parents had studied. During her undergraduate years, she also spent two years as a research fellow at the Chicago Institute for Neuroscience and had a research experience at Harvard's Department of Physical Chemistry. After graduation, she joined Bain & Company as a consulting associate. This is the standard training for the third generation of South Korean chaebol.

In 2017, she joined SK Biopharmaceuticals as the Head of Strategic Investments. However, in 2019, she made a decision that was not quite like that of an heir: she temporarily left SK to pursue a Master's in Biomedical Informatics at Stanford. This was in the field of Computational Biology, not regular biology. Two years later, she returned to SK to continue her strategic work while simultaneously pursuing a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at Seoul National University. She is currently still working on her Ph.D., focusing on Genetics and Developmental Biology.

In January 2024, she was promoted to Head of Business Development at SK Biopharmaceuticals (Vice President level), leading the introduction of Radiopharmaceutical Therapy (RPT) and Radioisotope Supply Contracts. This is a core pipeline for SK Biopharmaceuticals' transformation from traditional neurological drugs to the AI era of precision medicine. Later that year, Choi Taiwon established a new "Growth Support Department" at SK Group's holding company, SK Inc., and placed her in charge. She oversees medium- to long-term planning, portfolio management, global expansion, and new business evaluation directly under him.

Her marriage also did not follow the old chaebol script. In October 2017, she married her Bain colleague Yun Daoyan. Yun Daoyan graduated from Seoul National University's Business Administration department and later served as Co-CEO of the Korean AI infrastructure startup More. This company focuses on AI model training and computational parallelization software platforms, received a strategic investment from KT in 2021, and was valued at approximately 350 billion Korean won in 2025. This was not a traditional chaebol union, but it was also not what Chinese media often refer to as "marrying a common employee." It symbolizes a new elite network alliance: a chaebol heiress marrying a tech entrepreneur in the AI era.

In the narratives of female succession in chaebols like Samsung and CJ over the past few decades, daughters have often been associated with art galleries, hotels, charitable foundations, luxury retail, or dowries for their children. Choi Yunjung's position is different. She has a seat at the table where SK Group's future direction is decided. Her visibility is not defined by marriage, art, or image building, but by her scientific training, consulting experience, doctoral thesis, strategic investments, and executive position within the group.

The way chaebol daughters are seen is evolving. However, Choi Yunjung herself rarely speaks publicly. She is often discussed in the Korean media as the "most likely successor," yet her personal story remains quiet in public reports.

Choi Minjung: Heiress of Warships, Washington, and Raytheon's Globalization

On October 13, 2024, also at SK Group's own Hwakyeon Mountain Villa Hotel, Choi Min-jung's second daughter, Choi Min-jung, and Chinese-American entrepreneur Kevin Hwang held their special wedding.

Approximately 500 guests attended the wedding, including Lee Jae-yong, Koo Kwang-mo, Kim Dong-kwan, and other SK family members. Choi Tae-young and Roh Soo-young appeared in the same space for the first time after their ₩138 trillion divorce lawsuit, sitting side by side in the bride's parents' section. Next to them were dogs co-raised by Choi Min-jung and Kevin Hwang.

As the groom entered, Choi Min-jung walked into the venue alone, not being escorted by her father. There was no officiant throughout the wedding. Her sister, Choi Yoon-jung, delivered a congratulatory message, while the groom's younger brother gave a speech in English. Before the ceremony began, there was a moment of silence for fallen Korean and American comrades. A table was set on one side of the venue with medals, name tags, roses, and lemons, following the U.S. military tradition of the Missing Man Table to commemorate missing and deceased soldiers.

Choi Min-jung, born in 1991, attended high school at Renmin University of China High School and majored in Business Administration at Peking University Guanghua School of Management. Among the third generation of Korean chaebol families, very few go to China for their undergraduate studies; they either go to Ivy League schools or stay at prestigious universities in Korea. Reports indicate that during her studies in Beijing, she supported herself with scholarships, part-time work at convenience stores, and income from tutoring, almost without financial support from her parents. This "independent path" is a rare trait among Korean chaebol children.

In 2014, she made a decision that puzzled the entire South Korean media: to apply for the 117th class of the South Korean Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps. While South Korean men undergo mandatory military service, women serve voluntarily, marking the first time a woman from a Korean chaebol family voluntarily enlisted. During her interview, she mentioned being inspired by the spirit of challenge and leadership of the 1915 Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. During the 11-week pre-commissioning training period, she often told her visiting family and friends the same thing: "I am proud to be the daughter of the Republic of Korea. After the training period, I am even prouder."

She was assigned to the DDH-975 Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin destroyer as a Combat Information Assistant Officer. In December 2015, she was deployed with the 19th Task Group of the Cheonghae Unit near Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, conducting anti-piracy escort missions. Prior to her discharge, she served as a Combat Information Center Officer at the Commander's Tactical Unit of the Western Fleet Headquarters. She retired on November 30, 2017, with the rank of Navy Lieutenant.

After retiring, she returned to China and worked at an investment company for about a year in PE. She then went to Georgetown University in the United States to pursue a Master's in International Business and Policy. In August 2019, she joined SK Hynix's External Cooperation Department, INTRA, where she was responsible for international trade and policy response, shuttling between Washington and Seoul. This was her direct connection to SK Hynix. However, she was not an engineer, not a product manager, nor involved in factory operations. She was focused on policy and later moved to SK Hynix's U.S. subsidiary's Strategic Department, handling mergers and acquisitions.

It was during this time that she met her husband, Kevin Hwang. In the DuPont Circle area of Washington, D.C., they were neighbors.

Kevin Hwang, born in Indiana, USA, is a Harvard graduate with a Stanford MBA. In 2016, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps as a commissioned officer and worked in South Korea as part of the U.S. Forces Korea Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) as of October 2020 for about 9 months. Both of them have a military background, and the Korean media described their relationship as deepened through a shared military experience.

In February 2022, Choi Min Jung took a leave of absence from SK Hynix and went to a San Francisco-based remote healthcare startup, Done Global, as an unpaid advisor. The Korean media later revealed that she actually served as the CFO. A year later, she co-founded Integral Health with a scholar from the Yale School of Medicine in the field of psychiatry, where she serves as the CEO, focusing on AI-driven collaborative care and behavioral health integration.

Her current LinkedIn self-introduction reads, "Founder of Integral Health | Investor in Healthcare & AI | Veteran | 2x Exits." The tag "Veteran" still prominently features in her profile.

A recurring theme in Choi Min Jung's life is the military. From Shackleton to the Gulf of Aden, from Washington at SK Hynix INTRA to marrying a former U.S. Marine Corps officer. She did not follow the path of her sister to enter the internal management of SK, nor did she marry into a prominent Korean family following the traditional chaebol script. Instead, she has embodied the new era positioning of SK Hynix. As semiconductor companies increasingly resemble geopolitical entities in the AI era, they must navigate U.S. policies, trade regulations, supply chain security, and corporate mergers. Choi Min Jung's career trajectory aligns perfectly with this landscape.

Choi Ringeon: The Most Heir-Like Person, Why the Quietest

The Story of Choi Rengen Begins in a Hospital Room

In 2003, the SK Group was embroiled in an accounting fraud scandal, leading to the imprisonment of Choi Taeyoung. That same year, his youngest son, Choi Rengen, was diagnosed with childhood diabetes along with Lu Suyeong. The doctor said he would need to inject insulin for life. Choi Rengen was 8 years old that year.

During that time, Lu Suyeong, the daughter of a former Korean president, stayed with her child in the pediatric ward of Seoul National University Hospital. At night, while Choi Rengen slept on the bed, she sat alone beside him. Lu Suyeong later recalled in an interview that when her son turned 17, he was still struggling with diabetes, but he was a very cheerful boy. He often served in the church choir near their home, even performing special songs with beatboxing during the service. At night, he would copy the Bible together with his second sister, Choi Minjung.

Choi Rengen's educational path was different from his two sisters. He first attended a non-traditional high school in Korea known for its innovative education before transferring to Hawaii. His mother Lu Suyeong's educational philosophy was "not to worry about fitting children into the same university as others," but to explore a unique and creative way of parenting. While Choi Rengen attended high school in Hawaii, Lu Suyeong lived there for more than two years, accompanying him.

He later enrolled at Brown University in the U.S. to study physics, following in his father's footsteps. Choi Taeyoung had also majored in physics at Korea University, and Choi Taeyoung's younger brother, SK Group Vice Chairman Choi Jaeyoung, was also a graduate of the physics department at Brown University. This was the only clear academic continuity in this family. Choi Rengen had a good relationship with Choi Taeyoung, with frequent communication and activities such as playing tennis together. They were also photographed chatting outside a restaurant in Seoul.

After graduating, he interned at a Boston consulting group for a period of time and joined the SK E&S Strategic Planning Team in September 2020 to work on natural gas market expansion. In 2025, he left SK and joined the Seoul office of McKinsey. The South Korean media interpreted this move as a standard path of "training for the third generation of chaebol outside the family," but Choi Rengen himself made no public statements.

According to the old script of South Korean chaebols, Choi Rengen should have been the default successor. He was the eldest son and inherited the family's academic continuity. The trajectory from SK to McKinsey is similar to the training paths of Lee Jae-yong and Chung Eui-sun back in the day. However, despite being in a position scripted by the old ways, Choi Rengen has not made any public statements. The contents of the petition he submitted in his parents' divorce case have not been disclosed, and he currently does not hold any shares in the SK Group. He appears to be a person who has been assigned a position in the old script but refuses to take it.

Choi Rengeun is the most heir-like and the most silent of the three children.

The Family in Court

Despite the three children's independent backgrounds, they could not escape their parents' marriage. They did not speak out through interviews or social media but entered the public narrative of their parents' marriage through legal documents.

Choi Taiwon and Lu Suyeong held their wedding at the Blue House in 1988, with the then South Korean Prime Minister as the officiant. Lu Suyeong's father was the newly inaugurated South Korean President, Roh Tae-woo, that same year. In 2015, Choi Taiwon published the "Illegitimate Child Confession" in The South Korea Daily, publicly admitting to having a daughter with his cohabitant Kim Hee-yeong, and requested a divorce from Lu Suyeong, which she refused. In 2017, Choi Taiwon again applied for divorce mediation, leading to litigation. In 2019, Lu Suyeong counter-applied for divorce, seeking consolation money and property division equivalent to the shares of SK Corporation.

This lawsuit attracted sustained international media attention for three reasons: the division amount could set a new record in South Korean court history, the former president's family funds were implicated in SK Group's early capital structure, and Choi Taiwon's actual control over SK holdings might be jeopardized due to the substantial division.

In the first instance in 2022, the Seoul Family Court ruled for Choi Taiwon to divide 665 billion Korean won of assets with Lu Suyeong, granting her approximately 310,000 shares of SK holding company stock, elevating her from a 0.01% shareholder on the edge to the fourth-largest shareholder in the company. In the May 2024 retrial, the division amount surged to 1.38 trillion Korean won, marking the highest single divorce asset split in Asian legal history. In October 2025, the South Korean Supreme Court overturned part of the property division from the retrial, sending it back for review.

In May 2023, the three legitimate children submitted petitions to the Seoul High Court Family Division 2 for the review of their parents' divorce case for three consecutive days. Choi Minjeong, the second daughter, submitted her petition on the 15th, followed by the eldest son Choi Rengeun on the 16th, and the eldest daughter Choi Yunjeong on the 17th. The three children collectively appeared in their parents' divorce file in the form of legal documents, but what they wrote and whose side they took has not been disclosed to this day.

In 2024, at Choi Minjeong's wedding, Choi Taiwon and Lu Suyeong made their first public appearance in the same space under the backdrop of the 1.38 trillion won divorce lawsuit, sitting side by side in the bride's parents' section. After the ceremony, both families circled the tables together to greet the guests. This brief ceremonial coexistence was the final family tableau the three children could arrange for their parents after the structural failure of their marriage.

Like most chaebol families, SK's third-generation inheritance has never been just about a company or a shareholding.

When SK Hynix Becomes a Geopolitical Asset, Succession Is No Longer Just a Family Affair

Fast forward to that commemorative event in 2024.

Grandfather Choi Jong-hyun appeared via AI hologram, speaking to the grandchildren, while father Choi Tae-won told the children that this was a family legacy and they must undergo training. Among the children seated below, eldest daughter Choi Yoon-jung would continue to lead SK Inc.'s Growth Support Division the following year, eldest son Choi In-gun would leave SK in the same summer to join McKinsey. Second daughter Choi Min-jung was not present that day. She would return to the same hotel over ten months later as the founder of her own AI healthcare company, holding her wedding ceremony and observing a moment of silence for fallen Korean and American soldiers before the ceremony began.

The more SK Hynix resembles a global geopolitical asset, the less its heirs resemble traditional inheritors of wealth.

Yoon-jung's visibility no longer comes from marriage or family portraits but from whether she can present SK's next growth narrative beyond semiconductors; Min-jung's position is no longer within SK Hynix's factories or headquarters, but among Washington policy circles, Pentagon neighbors, a U.S. Marine husband, and AI healthcare entrepreneurship. She personifies the corporate attribute of this company revalued in the AI era. In-gun should have been the default heir according to the old script, but his silence indicates that mere primogeniture and familial scholarly lineage are no longer sufficient to automatically confer succession legitimacy.

The marriage connections of Korean chaebol families have not disappeared; they have simply shifted from the Blue House and domestic chaebol circles to Silicon Valley AI infrastructure startups and reserve officers of the U.S. Marine Corps in Washington. Yoon-jung married More's representative Yoon Do-yeon, while Min-jung married Kevin Hwang, a former Pentagon resident. It is still an elite union, but the elites are no longer on the same map.

At the 50th-anniversary event, Choi Tae-won told his children, "Remember the source when you drink water." For SK's heirs, inheritance is not a key or a shareholding sheet but being brought to the "water source," witnessing how the previous generation drew water, and then being tasked to dig their own well in their era.

However, their era is no longer their grandfather's era of industrial patriotism or their father's era of political-business alliances and group expansion. Just as SK Hynix is propelled into a global supply chain center by the AI era, Choi's three children are sent to cutting-edge AI labs, the Washington social circuit, and Wall Street boardrooms. What they inherit is a whole set of questions in the global AI industry game, not any single answer.

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