Young Poong accuses Korea Zinc chairman of abusing board, draining profits

Young Poong accused Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yun-beom of embodying “the very definition of bad corporate governance and everything that damages shareholder value” on Monday, marking one year since it joined forces with private equity firm MBK Partners to challenge his managerial control. The Young Poong-MBK alliance is currently the largest shareholder of the world’s largest zinc smelter. “As the largest shareholder, we will remain steadfast until Korea Zinc achieves sound corporate governance, underpinned by an independent board, transparent operations and accountable management,” a Young Poong official said. According to Young Poong, the core problem with Choi’s leadership is that Korea Zinc’s board has been effectively paralyzed, with major investment decisions pushed through unilaterally by him and corporate assets diverted to defending his personal control. He allegedly approved large-scale investments without resolutions or reviews, relying on close associates as rubber-stamp directors. A notable example is the 560 billion won ($403 million) investment in OneAsia PartWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times