National Pension, in fact, opposes Goryeo Asia Lead Chairman's reelection... calls for improvement of corporate governance structure

Recently, the National Pension Fund decided not to exercise voting rights on the appointment of Chairman Choi Yun-pan as an internal director at Korea Zinc’s shareholders’ meeting. This is interpreted as the National Pension actually opposing Chairman Choi’s reappointment. The reason for this decision is due to the intertwined issues of management rights disputes and shareholder rights, which have been judged to harm corporate value and infringe on shareholder interests.

On the 20th, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Responsible Trustees Committee of the National Pension Fund (Trustees Committee) held its 5th meeting on the 19th to discuss voting directions for shareholder meetings of 13 major companies, including Korea Zinc. During this process, the Trustees Committee decided not to exercise cumulative voting rights on the appointment of internal directors, external directors, and other non-executive directors of Korea Zinc. This choice is effectively seen as a vote of opposition.

In addition, the Trustees Committee also expressed opposition to director appointment proposals at companies such as HS Efficient Advanced Materials and Hanwha Financial Holdings. These decisions are mainly based on concerns that they could damage corporate value and infringe on shareholder rights. For example, opposition to Vice Chairman Jo Hyun-sang’s internal director appointment is related to issues of excessive concurrent positions.

MBK Partners stated that this decision by the National Pension indicates problems within the corporate governance structure. The National Pension explicitly pointed out the need for a fundamental re-evaluation of the board’s operation and supervisory functions, and mentioned that this shareholders’ meeting will be a crucial turning point for Korea Zinc’s future competitiveness.

This trend suggests that in the future, investors and major institutions may strengthen their oversight of corporate governance structures and shareholder rights protection. How to dispel doubts about the Choi Yun-pan system and move toward substantively enhancing corporate value remains an unresolved issue.