National Pension Service Headquarters (Image courtesy of the National Pension Service)
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), one of the world’s largest institutional investors, has been navigating a delicate balance between maximizing shareholder returns and advancing responsible investment in its recent voting at foreign corporate annual meetings.
According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and its own disclosures, the NPS cast votes at the shareholder meetings of at least 46 overseas companies between late 2024 and mid-2025, including 43 listed on U.S. exchanges.
Out of 385 resolutions, it opposed or partially opposed 93, about 24 percent.
The fund largely supported management-backed proposals, with a 91.5 percent approval rate, but withheld votes in cases of long-serving directors, excessive executive compensation, or weak governance.
Notably, it voted against the reappointment of Google co-founder Larry Page as an Alphabet director in June, citing poor board attendance.
When it came to shareholder proposals, the NPS was more skeptical, opposing nearly three-quarters of such measures. It rejected resolutions at Microsoft calling for reports on military contracts, human rights, and fossil fuel-related AI projects, arguing they could erode corporate value.
At Apple, it voted against requests for greater disclosure on AI ethics, diversity programs, and charitable donations.
Yet the fund was not uniformly dismissive. It backed proposals at Meta on data privacy, AI oversight, equal voting rights, child safety, and deepfake detection, reflecting growing regulatory and reputational risks in social media.
It also supported measures at Amazon and J.P. Morgan seeking stronger governance by separating board chairs from CEOs or ensuring independent leadership.
Analysts say the voting record underscores the NPS’s dual mandate: defending long-term shareholder value while occasionally siding with ESG-focused investors.
The fund’s investment chief, Seo Won-joo, emphasized at a July meeting that “the foremost objective of fund management is to maximize returns,” but added that responsible investment was integral to achieving sustainable performance.
With trillions of won in retirement assets at stake, the NPS’s voting decisions are closely watched as a signal of how global capital may reconcile profit imperatives with mounting pressure for corporate accountability.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
