National Pension Service Supports Appointment of Cho Won-tae as Inside Director of Hanjin Kal... Positive Signal for Reappointment

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] The National Pension Service has backed Chairman Cho Won-tae ahead of Hanjin KAL's regular shareholders' meeting scheduled for the 27th. This gives Chairman Cho an advantageous position in the first round of the management rights dispute with the shareholder coalition (the three-party alliance) aiming to restore Hanjin Group.

According to business circles on the 26th, the National Pension Service's Stewardship Committee held its 8th meeting in the morning to review and decide on the voting directions for agenda items at the shareholders' meetings of Hanjin KAL, Korean Air, KT&G, and others. It is known that the National Pension Service holds a 2.9% stake in Hanjin KAL.

The National Pension Service decided to support all candidates recommended by Hanjin KAL, including Chairman Cho and two inside director candidates (Cho Won-tae and Ha Eun-yong), as well as five outside director candidates (Kim Seok-dong, Park Young-seok, Choi Yoon-hee, Lim Chun-soo, and Lee Dong-myung). On the other hand, among the three inside director candidates and four outside director candidates from the three-party alliance, it decided to cast votes in favor of only two candidates: inside director candidate Kim Shin-bae and outside director candidate Seo Yoon-seok.

In business circles, this decision is regarded as the National Pension Service effectively supporting Chairman Cho and Hanjin Group. This is because the court dismissed all injunction requests from the three-party alliance, widening the shareholding gap between the two sides to more than 8 percentage points, resulting in support for Chairman Cho's reappointment.

A business insider said, "Although support was given to candidates like Kim Shin-bae from the three-party alliance, given the current significant shareholding gap, it will be difficult for them to be appointed," adding, "A green light has been turned on for Chairman Cho's reappointment as an inside director."

However, even if Chairman Cho wins at this shareholders' meeting, the management rights dispute is expected to enter a 'long-term' second round. Recently, the three-party alliance has been building a stronghold by increasing their combined shareholding to 42.13%.

The three-party alliance also stated in a previous press release, "We do not believe the outcome of this shareholders' meeting marks the end of the efforts to restore Hanjin Group," and added, "We will do everything possible with a long-term perspective and patience to put the group back on the path to normalization."