This article was displayed on the ChosunBiz MoneyMove (MM) site at 2:42 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2025.
The Financial Supervisory Service decided to extend the accounting audit of Korea Zinc and Young Poong, whose deadlines expire this month. The FSS's audit is in principle handled within a maximum of one year, so this extension decision is highly unusual.
The Financial Supervisory Service is said to be closely examining the extent to which Chair Choi Yun-beom was involved in One Asia Partners' investments backed by Korea Zinc's capital, and whether any conflicts of interest arose between Korea Zinc and Chair Choi in the process.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 21st, the Financial Supervisory Service recently decided to extend the accounting audit period for Korea Zinc. Given that Korea Zinc and Young Poong have been locked in a management control dispute for more than a year, the audit period for Young Poong will also be extended.
Initially, the Financial Supervisory Service planned to complete the accounting audit on the 27th of this month and, based on the results within the year, draft an opinion and hand it over to the Audit Committee. The official procedure is to go through the Audit Committee and then move to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
Earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service launched an accounting review of Korea Zinc and Young Poong in Oct. last year and switched to an accounting audit in Nov. For Korea Zinc, the audit focused on whether losses from its capital commitments to One Asia Partners funds were properly reflected in the financial statements, and whether the valuation at the time of acquiring Ignio Holding was overstated. For Young Poong, the key issue was whether the expense of disposing of waste from the Seokpo Smelter was properly reflected as a provision.
According to the accounting audit advancement plan released by the financial authorities in 2022, the audit investigation period is limited to one year. However, when there are "unavoidable reasons," it can be extended by six months with prior approval from the governor of the Financial Supervisory Service. The aim is to prevent excessive prolongation of audits and to strengthen the defense rights of those under investigation.
Since the financial authorities established this principle, there has reportedly not been a single case in which the audit period was actually extended. In other words, the Korea Zinc–Young Poong case is the first instance of a period extension.
According to the industry, the Financial Supervisory Service is said to be focusing among Korea Zinc's accounting issues particularly on the One Asia matter. Korea Zinc committed about 560 billion won to multiple funds managed by One Asia, a nascent private equity firm, and incurred losses of more than 100 billion won there; whether those losses were reflected sufficiently and in a timely manner in the financial statements was one of the core issues of the audit. Chair Choi and One Asia CEO Ji Chang-bae are middle school classmates.
The Financial Supervisory Service is said to be investigating the extent to which not only the Korea Zinc corporation but also Chair Choi personally was involved in One Asia's investment activities, and whether there were any conflicts of interest between Korea Zinc and Chair Choi in the process.