National pension fund pressed to actively pursue shareholder advocacy

South Korea's state-run pension fund is coming under growing pressure to actively exercise its shareholder voting right in a bid to rein in malpractices of major firms in the country, including a veto against appointments of corrupt owners or incompetent executives to the board of companies it invests in, industry sources said Sunday. The National Pension Service (NPS), the country's largest investor, is also being asked to recommend auditors and outside directors for the companies to help curb dubious and other shoddy practices that hurt shareholder value, according to them. The NPS, the world's fourth-largest pension fund, has been keeping its hands out of managerial issues, although it holds major stakes in many of Korea's blue-chip companies.