"There were more family members than the owner"... 85 of 89 major conglomerates had family members as registered executives

[Financial News] Most major business groups in South Korea were found to have owner-family members serving as registered executives at affiliates. In some groups, not only the owner but also spouses, children and relatives have secured seats on multiple affiliate boards, suggesting that a bloodline-centered family-run management structure is still in place.
By contrast, some groups such as Samsung Group, Hanwha Group and HD Hyundai showed a different pattern, with the owner not serving as a registered executive while children stepped into the spotlight as registered executives at key affiliates.
On the 5th, CEO Score said that a survey of 89 conglomerates subject to disclosure with controlling owners as of the end of April found 407 owner-family members serving as registered executives at domestic affiliates in 85 groups.

When the number of affiliate executive posts held by owner-family members was totaled by group, BS Group ranked first with 46. BS Group is a business group that traces its roots to Boseong Enterprise, founded in 1978.
It was followed by SM Group with 45, GS Group with 34, Booyoung Group with 31, KG Group with 27, Nongshim Group with 26, Line Group and Sajo Group with 24 each, Youngpoong Group with 23, and KCC Group with 22.
By individual, Lee Joongkeun, chairman of Booyoung Group, held registered executive posts at 16 of the group's 21 affiliates, or 76.2%, the highest number of concurrent positions among all owner-family members. Kwon O-il, chairman of Daemyung Chemical Group, which was newly designated as a major conglomerate this year, followed with registered executive posts at 15 affiliates.
Among owners' spouses, Oh Jeong-hwa, chairwoman of the Line Cultural Foundation and wife of Line Group Chairman Gong Byunghak, held registered executive posts at eight affiliates, the most among spouses.
Among owners' children, Lee Seo-jeong, the eldest daughter of Chairman Lee Joongkeun, held registered executive posts at 13 affiliates, including Booyoung and Donggwang Housing, the most of any child. She was followed by Joo Ji-hong, vice chairman of Sajo Group, with eight.
CEO Score noted that, unlike the past when major conglomerates were largely centered on primogeniture-based succession, board participation by eldest daughters has recently become more prominent. Among 11 members of the next generation who held registered executive posts at five or more companies, four were eldest daughters.

Compared with 2023, the person whose number of concurrent registered executive posts increased the most was Lee Joongkeun of Booyoung Group.
Lee stepped down from all registered executive positions after his prison sentence was finalized in 2020, but after returning he again took registered executive posts at 16 affiliates. His eldest daughter, Lee Seo-jeong, also increased her number of posts from eight to 13 over the same period.
By contrast, SM Group saw a sharp decline in the number of concurrent posts held by owner-family members. Park Heung-jun, the former top holder of concurrent positions and CEO of Kukil Paper, reduced his posts from 16 to seven, while Chairman Woo Oh-hyun and his children also saw their numbers fall overall.

Among the 89 groups surveyed, 24 had no controlling owner serving as a registered executive at any affiliate. These included Samsung Group, Hanwha Group, HD Hyundai, Shinsegae, CJ Group, DL Group, Mirae Asset Financial Group, Hankook & Company Group, DB Group and Kolon Group. Among them, DL Group, Mirae Asset Financial Group, Taekwang and E-Land were found to have no owner-family members serving as registered executives at all.
However, in many of the groups where the owner has stepped away from the board, children have taken on registered executive roles at key affiliates and moved to the forefront of management.
A representative example is Hanwha Group, where Kim Dong-kwan, the eldest son of Chairman Kim Seung-yeon, held registered executive posts at five key affiliates: Hanwha Group, Hanwha Solutions, Mobile Tactical Cannon program, Hanwha Ocean and Hanwha Impact. Kisun Chung of HD Hyundai, Nam-ho Kim of DB Group and Lee Gyu-ho of Kolon Group were also found to be participating on the boards of key affiliates.
CEO Score explained that the survey analyzed the status of registered executives among owner-family members at domestic affiliates of major Korean conglomerates. It excluded same-name individuals whose ties to the owner family could not be confirmed, as well as Coupang, where a legal dispute over the designation of the controlling shareholder is ongoing.
[email protected] Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter