Why South Korea’s State Pension Backed All Korea Zinc Board Proposals

South Korea’s National Pension Service has decided to vote in favor of all agenda items at the upcoming Korea Zinc shareholder meeting, backing an amendment to expand separately elected audit committee members and endorsing director appointments.

What happened

• On September 7, 2026, the Fiduciary Responsibility Committee (수탁자책임 전문위원회) of the National Pension Service (국민연금) held its 11th meeting to determine voting directions for the Korea Zinc (고려아연) shareholder meeting.
• The committee voted in favor of Agenda Item 1, an amendment to the articles of incorporation to expand separately elected audit committee members.
• For Agenda Item 2, which covers the election of 4 directors via cumulative voting, the fund voted in favor, splitting its voting power evenly at 25.0% for each of the 4 candidates.
• For Agenda Item 3, the fund voted in favor of appointing both candidates—Baek In-gyu (백인규) and Park Yoo-kyung (박유경)—as independent directors serving on the audit committee.

Why it matters

South Korea's National Pension Service is a public social insurance fund designed to provide old-age, survivor, and disability pensions to help stabilize citizen welfare. Financed by mandatory contributions from insured individuals, employers, and state support, the multi-billion-won fund exercises fiduciary stewardship over its portfolio companies. Because the financial health of subscriber retirements directly ties to fund performance and corporate governance, the pension fund systematically scrutinizes board composition, corporate structure, and shareholder voting items at major domestic corporations such as Korea Zinc.

The numbers

The pension fund's fiduciary committee distributed its allotted voting power equally among all four director nominees under the cumulative voting mechanism.

Calculation formula: 100% total voting power ÷ 4 nominees = 25.0% (one-fourth) allocated per nominee.

Note: Financial expenditure details for the review and voting process were not disclosed.

Fact-check

• Claim: The National Pension Service split its votes unevenly across the four director nominees.

FALSE. The committee split its voting rights equally, allocating exactly 25.0% (one-fourth) of its voting weight to each of the four candidates.

• Claim: The fund opposed the proposal to expand separately elected audit committee members.

FALSE. The committee officially resolved to vote in favor of Agenda Item 1, approving the amendment to the articles of incorporation.

• Claim: Korea Zinc's financial outlay related to this voting process was kept confidential.

TRUE. Official disclosures list the associated expenditures as undisclosed.

What's next

Korea Zinc's shareholder meeting is scheduled to take place on September 9, 2026. The National Pension Service will cast its ballots on-site in full alignment with the decisions established during the September 7 committee meeting.

Sources

1. 국민연금, 고려아연 주주총회에 대한 의결권 행사 방향 결정 — 보건복지부 보도자료
2. 국민연금 — Wikipedia (ko)