![Exterior of Hankook Tire headquarters Technoplex. [Photo=Hankook & Company]](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2026/04/22/20260422165459227030.jpg)
Questions are growing over the “Hankook & Company Shareholders Alliance,” which some critics say was used as a public-relations tool by the company’s second-largest shareholder at Hankook & Company’s shareholders meeting. The group, formed in the name of protecting minority shareholders, is now facing allegations that it has been used as a channel to fold into the owner family’s legal network. Industry watchers warn that if a voluntary minority-shareholder group is diverted to serve a particular faction’s interests, it could ultimately harm investors acting in good faith.
According to the industry on Tuesday, attorney Kim Hak-yu, who led the alliance’s activities, was recently listed as legal counsel in the Supreme Court appeal of an ongoing lawsuit between Honorary Chairman Cho Yang-rae and his second daughter, Cho Hee-won, over the return of unjust enrichment. The case is being handled by Shinwon Law Firm, where Kim works, with the firm serving as counsel and Kim participating on the legal team.
The appeal stems from events that began in 2019, when Cho gifted Hankook Tire shares to Cho Hee-won and paid the gift tax on her behalf. After a tax tribunal canceled the gift-tax assessment, the tax authority refunded 33.3 billion won in gift tax to Cho Hee-won, not to Cho, who had paid it. Cho then filed a lawsuit seeking the return of unjust enrichment, won in the first and second trials, and the case is now in the appeal stage.
Kim, who is involved in that case, also serves as legal representative for the Hankook & Company minority-shareholder alliance. In 2025, he used a KakaoTalk open chat room to recruit shareholders, saying he would “improve Hankook & Company’s outdated governance structure and maximize shareholder value,” but his activities have drawn criticism as one-sided.
Critics say that rather than presenting broader, institutional proposals on governance, he focused repeatedly on the high compensation of Chairman Cho Hyun-beom, the controlling shareholder, and on calls for his resignation. Separately, it later became known that Cho Hyun-sik, the chairman’s older brother who previously fought a stake dispute and is described as a former Hankook & Company adviser, was participating in the alliance, fueling claims the group has shifted into a tool to pressure management.
An industry official said minority and major shareholders “have completely different interests,” and that doubts emerged after the name of a major shareholder — Cho Hyun-sik, who holds an 18.93% stake — appeared on a list of the minority-shareholder group. The official said it raised suspicions that Kim may have aligned with Cho Hyun-sik, adding that investors should cross-check “who has what interests and where they are trying to take things,” rather than relying on slogans about protecting minority shareholders.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.