S. Korea's Korean Air chief loses board directorship on rejection

SEOUL, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Cho Yang-ho, chAirman of South Korea's biggest Air carrier Korean Air, on Wednesday lost his board directorship, becoming the country's first conglomerate head to fail to be reappointed as director of the board on rejection by shareholders.

The annual shareholders' meeting of Korean Air was held earlier in the day at its headquarters in Seoul, attended by 73.84 percent of shareholders.

Voting for Cho's reappointment as the board director was 64.09 percent of the total attendees, falling short of the two-thirds support that is required for the 70-year-old keeping the post.

It was the first time here that a conglomerate chief lost his post of representative director at the board on rejection by shareholders, though he would retain his post as chAirman.

The Airline's highest stake of 33.35 percent is collectively owned by Cho, his family and those having special relations with the Air carrier. The second-biggest shareholder is the National Pension Service (NPS), the national pension fund manager that owns a stake of 11.56 percent.

The NPS played a key role by voting against Cho's reappointment as the executive director. The NPS, which manages about 644 trillion won (576 billion U.S. dollars) in assets, adopted a stewardship code last year to actively engage in corporate governance to enhance the interests of shareholders.

Cho stood the trial for charges of embezzlement and breach of duty. His wife and two daughters have been accused of performing "gapjil" in Korean, which refers to an abuse of underlings with harsh words and violent actions.

Cho's eldest daughter, Hyun-ah, drew international attention for the "nut rage incident" in December 2014, when the heiress of Korean Air ordered an Aircraft to return to the gate before takeoff at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York because of her dissatisfaction with the way she was served macadamia nuts on the plane.