Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, 70, has lost his position as an internal director. Korean Air held a shareholders' meeting on March 27 and put Cho's proposal for a second term as an in-house director to a vote. Cho's second term was rejected with 64.1 percent in favor and 35.9 percent against.
Korean Air's articles of association stipulates that the selection of an in-house director must be approved by more than two-thirds of shareholders attending the shareholders' meeting.
Cho needs more than 66.66 percent of the vote to succeed in his second term, but he lost his position as an in-house director due to failure to meet the demand.
About 33.35% of the Korean Air shares are owned by Chairman Cho and related parties, including Hanjin KAL with 29.96 percent. The second-largest shareholder, the National Pension Service, has an 11.56 percent stake. Foreign shareholders have a 20.50 percent stake and other shareholders 55.09 percent stake.
Cho's failure to seek a second term was expected to some extent when the National Pension Service decided the previous day to exercise voting rights against him. The National Pension Service said in a meeting the previous day that it made the decision against Cho's proposal for a second term because it believed he had a history of damaging corporate values or violating shareholder rights.
In addition, foreign shareholders and minority shareholders are also believed to have turned their backs on Cho.