As Korea Zinc heads into its regular shareholders meeting on the 24th, a war of words is intensifying between the Young Poong–MBK Partners alliance, the largest shareholder of Korea Zinc, and Korea Zinc's management. In particular, the management control dispute has escalated into a controversy over "impersonating the company," sharpening the battle over the truth.
Young Poong–MBK Partners said in a press release on the 8th that it has maintained a consistent stance that a stock split and the introduction of an executive officer system are institutional measures to enhance corporate value and normalize the board's function. This rebuts criticism that their position has shifted after Young Poong–MBK Partners voted against the "stock split and introduction of an executive officer system" at an extraordinary shareholders meeting a year ago but resubmitted the items ahead of this meeting.
Young Poong–MBK said that proposing items with the same intent again is to ask shareholders' intentions anew under a lawful and fair procedure. It added that in a situation where the extraordinary shareholders meeting in January 2025 was derailed by unlawful acts by Chair Choi Yun-beom's side, they had no choice but to oppose most agenda items at the extraordinary meeting, and that supporting the stock split and executive officer items at the time risked being used as recognition of the validity of the unlawful deprivation of voting rights.
Young Poong–MBK also said that the extraordinary meeting in January 2025 was derailed because the voting rights of Young Poong, the largest shareholder, were stripped through illegal acts right before the meeting, and that the court found the voting rights restriction unlawful and issued injunctions suspending the effect of many of the extraordinary meeting's resolutions.
It further said that Chair Choi Yun-beom and Korea Zinc should apologize to all shareholders for driving the January 2025 extraordinary meeting into disarray, and that this shareholders meeting is not a simple vote on items but a venue to reset the accountability structure of the board and the current management. Only when the principles of governance are set straight can corporate value be sustained.
In response, Korea Zinc criticized in a rebuttal that Young Poong–MBK's flip-flops and distortions of facts are getting worse. Korea Zinc said that regarding the extraordinary meeting in January last year, the reason the court granted an injunction was that SMC (a Korea Zinc grandchild company) did not meet some requirements for a stock company, and that afterward the court found that restricting the voting rights of SMH (a Korea Zinc subsidiary), which met stock company requirements at the March regular meeting, was lawful. It argued that Young Poong–MBK is hiding, misleading, and distorting these facts.
It added that the shareholder proposals put forward by Young Poong–MBK are items they themselves previously sought injunctions against or opposed in votes, which only adds to shareholder confusion, and that as criticism mounts over their zigzag moves far removed from enhancing shareholder value, they are scrambling to explain themselves.
It also warned that employees of proxy solicitation firms for Young Poong–MBK are reportedly contacting shareholders with what appear to be Korea Zinc employee ID badges around their necks to obtain voting proxies, and that such acts could constitute violations of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act or obstruction of business.