Young Poong and MBK Partners said on the 25th that they closed public nominations on the 24th for independent outside director candidates who will serve as audit committee members elected by a separate vote at Korea Zinc.
According to Young Poong and MBK that day, more than 10 candidates were recommended in fields including corporate management and accounting/finance, legal/compliance, ESG, industry/technology, and risk management. Stakeholders including Korea Zinc shareholders, corporate governance institutions, nonprofit organizations (NGOs), and expert groups took part in recommending candidates. A final slate will be chosen after a review by an independent candidate review committee composed of three external experts.
The MBK–Young Poong side said, "The independent candidate review committee will operate independently from Young Poong and MBK and will comprehensively evaluate candidates' expertise, independence, job performance capabilities, potential conflicts of interest, and reputation to select the final nominees," adding, "This public call for nominations was arranged to identify audit committee candidates independent of the interests of particular shareholders or current management."
Earlier, Young Poong and MBK moved on the 5th to accept public nominations and select candidates, saying the eligibility criteria for recommending independent outside director candidates that the Korea Zinc board announced on the 2nd were designed to favor Chairman Choi Yoon-beom's side. Young Poong/MBK and Choi's side are in a management control dispute. Against this backdrop, Young Poong and MBK, considering the purpose of the audit committee, independently accepted recommendations for independent outside director candidates.
At the time, the eligibility criteria announced by Korea Zinc for recommending independent outside director candidates were shareholders who had held at least 0.1% of the total number of issued shares for at least six months, or shareholders who held at least 1% of the total number of issued shares. Young Poong and MBK said of these conditions, "On the surface, it purports to be a shareholder nomination process, but in reality the shareholders who can participate are extremely limited," adding, "As of the end of March 2026, there are only 47 shareholders on a beneficial basis who hold at least 0.1% equity, and many of them are shareholders who share interests with major shareholder groups or the company."
The current dispute is related to the need for Korea Zinc to appoint one additional audit committee member elected by a separate vote. The second amendment to the Commercial Act, which expands separately elected audit committee members to two or more, takes effect in Sep. The Korea Zinc board currently has one separately elected audit committee member. With an extraordinary shareholders meeting unavoidable, the two sides are engaged in a numbers battle.