According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 21st, KoreaZinc held an extraordinary board meeting that morning and recommended Professor Seo and Chairman Baek as candidates for directors and audit committee members, respectively. It is understood that the list of candidates was finalized following a public call for preliminary nominations and a review by the Independent Director Nomination Committee.

Professor Seo is an economist with a strong standing in the financial markets, having worked in the fields of macroeconomics and financial economics. After serving as a research fellow at the Bank of Korea’s Institute for Economic Research and the Korea Capital Market Institute, he participated in the Financial Development Council of the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service’s Financial Supervision Advisory Committee, and the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) Steering Committee. With experience as an outside director at financial institutions, he is regarded as a figure with a broad understanding of academia, financial policy, and the financial sector.

Chairman Baek is an expert in accounting and auditing who has handled audit and corporate advisory work at Deloitte Anjin. In particular, he has emphasized that as ESG disclosure requirements expand, the role of audit committees in overseeing related risks and disclosure systems becomes increasingly important. He has also expressed the view that, in order for companies to respond to increasingly complex ESG disclosure standards, they must establish a proactive oversight system centered on the audit committee.

MBK and Youngpoong also put forward their candidates through a separate public nomination process. It is reported that they nominated Park Yu-kyung, former Head of Responsible Investment and Governance for Asia-Pacific at APG Asset Management, as a candidate for the Audit Committee. Ms. Park is a governance expert who was responsible for responsible investment and corporate governance improvements for companies in the Asian region at APG.

Accordingly, a general vote is expected to take place at the shareholders’ meeting regarding the appointment of the director and audit committee candidates recommended by KoreaZinc and MBK and Youngpoong, respectively.

A battle of wits has also been ongoing regarding the legitimacy and independence of the candidate nomination process. KoreaZinc characterized the open nominations conducted by MBK and Youngpoong as the activities of individual shareholders, distinct from the company’s official procedures. In contrast, MBK and Youngpoong maintain that a board of directors and audit committee independent of the current management are necessary.

Depending on the outcome of this shareholders’ meeting, the composition of KoreaZinc’s board of directors and the structure of checks and balances on management could change. Observers predict that this will serve as a turning point in gauging both sides’ actual ability to mobilize voting rights and the future direction of the long-running management control dispute.