Young Poong, MBK Win Lawsuit Over Korea Zinc Voting Rights Restrictions: "Choi Yunbeom Must Apologize to Shareholders"

"Questions over legitimacy of governance structure built on unlawful deprivation of voting rights"

Young Poong and MBK Partners said Chairman Choi Yun-beom and Korea Zinc's management must take responsibility for their victory in a lawsuit seeking to overturn shareholder meeting resolutions filed against Korea Zinc.

In a statement issued on November 12, Young Poong and MBK said, "Chairman Choi and Korea Zinc's management bear no small responsibility for derailing two shareholder meetings and depriving the largest shareholder of its legitimate voting rights, even to the point of undermining the law and established principles. They must clearly apologize to all shareholders for unlawfully restricting the largest shareholder's legitimate voting rights and thereby undermining shareholders' legitimate rights and Korea Zinc's corporate governance."

The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs that day in the lawsuit filed by Young Poong and MBK seeking to overturn shareholder meeting resolutions. The court ruled that the resolutions passed at Korea Zinc's annual shareholders meeting on March 28, 2025, including amendments to the articles of incorporation and the appointment of directors and audit committee members, must be revoked because Young Poong's voting rights had been restricted.

Young Poong and MBK said, "The court has sternly confirmed that Chairman Choi and management cannot justify using overseas affiliates to create a cross-shareholding structure to protect their control and then arbitrarily depriving Young Poong, the largest shareholder, of its voting rights on that basis. Through its ruling, the court clearly reaffirmed the principle that 'cross-shareholdings cannot be used to restrict existing shareholders' voting rights to defend management control.'"

In August 2026, the Supreme Court had already finalized its decision that the move to restrict Young Poong's voting rights at an extraordinary shareholders meeting in January 2025 was unlawful. Young Poong and MBK said the judiciary had corrected the repeated, unjustified restrictions on voting rights carried out for the same purpose. They added, "This shows that the legitimacy of the current governance structure, built on the unlawful deprivation of voting rights, is fundamentally flawed."

They added that they would continue taking the necessary steps to ensure that Korea Zinc shareholders' rights are fully protected in accordance with the law and established principles, and that transparent and accountable corporate governance is established for the benefit of the company and all its shareholders, rather than to secure any one person's control.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.