National Pension Service Opposes Appointment of Im Jong-yoon as Director of Hanmi Pharmaceutical

The National Pension Service expressed opposition to the appointment of Lim Jong-yoon, the eldest son of the founder of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group who is involved in a management rights dispute with his mother, as an inside director of Hanmi Pharmaceutical. Lim Jong-yoon, a director of Hanmi Science and the party involved, expressed regret.

Exterior view of Hanmi Pharm headquarters. [Photo by Hanmi Pharm]

On the 13th, the National Pension Service announced its opposition to the agenda item at the upcoming Hanmi Pharmaceutical extraordinary general meeting scheduled for the 18th, which involves appointing Lim Jong-yoon as an inside director of Hanmi Pharmaceutical.

The National Pension Service stated the reason for opposition, saying, "Candidate Lim Jong-yoon falls under the category of those whose attendance rate at board meetings was less than 75% during the previous term."

The guidelines on fiduciary responsibility activities of the National Pension Fund stipulate that a dissenting vote can be cast against those whose attendance rate at board meetings was less than 75% during the previous term.

Director Lim said, "At that time, the Hanmi Pharmaceutical board was dominated by personnel from private equity funds, who can be considered the main culprits of the management rights dispute, along with existing board members who cooperated with them," and added, "I abstained from attending in order to exercise veto power over Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s decision-making as a board member." This indicates that even before the management rights dispute of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group became public, the private equity funds were leading efforts to exclude me from work and other activities while working to seize control of the organization.

Lim also argued, "The National Pension Service’s simple opposition to the agenda item at the general meeting based solely on board attendance rates can be seen as going against the current trend aimed at resolving the Korea discount."

Earlier, at the end of the management rights dispute in late March, Lim’s term as an inside director expired as the Hanmi Pharmaceutical board did not pass the reappointment agenda, and he is now pushing for reappointment after winning the management rights dispute.

Regarding this, Lim said during the previous management rights dispute, "As a co-CEO of the holding company for 12 years, I was excluded without an organizational chart after the private equity funds took control of the organization. In March 2022, I was unilaterally notified that I could not be reappointed at Hanmi Science, and that position was filled by an outside director recommended by La D?fense."