National Pension Fund Opposes New HiteJinro CEO, Signals Stronger Voting Stance
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) cast a dissenting vote last month against the appointment of Jang In-seop as an internal director and CEO of HiteJinro at a special shareholders’ meeting. The NPS said the vote followed its stewardship guidelines (stewardship code) and cited concerns about excessive concurrent posts—Jang serves as CEO and chair of both HiteJinro and its holding company, HiteJinro Holdings. Although the proposal passed because the holding company controls 50.27% of shares, the NPS, which owns about 5% of HiteJinro, said it may escalate voting measures if the company fails to address alleged corporate value damage tied to past unfair support of an affiliate (a Fair Trade Commission penalty and a court ruling). The NPS’s stepped process moves firms from private dialogue to focused management and, if needed, public designation, then stronger shareholder actions such as opposing financial statement approval, voting against broader meeting items, and pursuing legal shareholder rights. The move follows government pressure for institutional investors to more actively exercise shareholder rights to protect market fairness and investor interests.
