SEOUL, February 9 (AJP) - Nearly half of outside directors at major businesses in South Korea will see their terms expire in the first half of this year, a study shows.
Corporate tracker Korea CXO Institute surveyed the country's 50 largest companies and found they had around 1,235 outside directors as of this month. Of them, 543 or 44 percent are scheduled to have their terms end in the first half of this year.
Among conglomerates, SK Group had the most with 85, followed by Lotte with 75, NongHyup with 74, Samsung and Hyundai Motor with 72 each, and KT with 52. About 100 serve at more than one company.
Under relevant regulations, companies with assets over 2 trillion won can retain outside directors for up to six years, meaning about half will have to step down around their shareholders' meetings in March.
Of these directors, about 103 who began their terms before June 2020 will no longer be eligible to serve. Around 40 of these fat cats are affiliated with the country's top 10 companies such as Samsung and SK hynix.
Most had academic backgrounds, with 30 serving as university presidents, professors or researchers, followed by 27 bureaucrats and 20 from legal and financial institutions.
"With selection criteria for outside directors becoming stricter, companies are expected to face growing concerns," said Oh Il-seon, head of the institute.
Corporate tracker Korea CXO Institute surveyed the country's 50 largest companies and found they had around 1,235 outside directors as of this month. Of them, 543 or 44 percent are scheduled to have their terms end in the first half of this year.
Among conglomerates, SK Group had the most with 85, followed by Lotte with 75, NongHyup with 74, Samsung and Hyundai Motor with 72 each, and KT with 52. About 100 serve at more than one company.
Under relevant regulations, companies with assets over 2 trillion won can retain outside directors for up to six years, meaning about half will have to step down around their shareholders' meetings in March.
Of these directors, about 103 who began their terms before June 2020 will no longer be eligible to serve. Around 40 of these fat cats are affiliated with the country's top 10 companies such as Samsung and SK hynix.
Most had academic backgrounds, with 30 serving as university presidents, professors or researchers, followed by 27 bureaucrats and 20 from legal and financial institutions.
"With selection criteria for outside directors becoming stricter, companies are expected to face growing concerns," said Oh Il-seon, head of the institute.
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