조양호 회장, 국민연금 주주권 행사로 경영권 박탈… 재벌 총수로 '최초'<br /><br />CEO of South Korea's flag carrier, Korean Air, was voted down as director of the board in a landmark shareholder vote.<br />It marks the first such move among Korea's familiy-controlled conglomerates.<br />Our Choi Si-young reports. 27 years since he first took over the board in 1992, Korean Air CEO Cho Yang-ho's reappointment as director of the board was rejected by shareholders.<br /> A total of sixty-four percent of shareholders present at the meeting voted in support of his reelection, falling just short of the "two-thirds" required for approval under the firm's bylaws.<br />But the result was no surprise, as the National Pension Service,... the airline's second largest stakeholder,... declared a day earlier that it would not vote in favor of the motion to re-elect Cho as director.<br />The institutional investor said Cho had behaved in ways that damaged corporate values.<br />Cho is on trial facing charges of embezzlement and tax evasion.<br />South Korean civic groups and proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services concurred, recommending investors to vote against the reappointment of Cho, citing “sufficient evidence of egregious governance concerns."<br />Experts point that the pension service rightfully exercised its shareholder's rights to suspend a director unfit to lead the board, but others differ,... saying his contributions to the firm so far should be considered when deciding to kick out the long-serving executive.<br />But, both of them agree that the pension service is now being a more vocal shareholder.<br />"The NPS is a major stakeholder at big-name companies like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor,... so it can vote on contentious issues at the shareholder meetings.<br />From now on, the NPS will more actively exercise its voting rights and wield more influence over those companies."<br />"Cho is the first family member,... of the families that started the Korean conglomerates known as chaebols,... to be dragged off a board of directors.<br />Now that the NPS has more of a say in how they run their businesses, the chaebols will be under greater scrutiny."<br />Choi Si-young, Arirang News."
