A Scandal at Korea’s Retirement Giant
ByWas the National Pension Service pressured to support a merger?
With 546 trillion won ($456.5 billion) in assets, South Korea’s public National Pension Service is the world’s third-largest pension fund, behind Japan’s and Norway’s. It’s also become a part of the widening scandal surrounding impeached President Park Geun-hye.
On Dec. 31, a Seoul court issued a warrant for the arrest of Moon Hyung-pyo, chairman of the NPS. He was suspected of having pressured the fund, when he was a government minister, to support the controversial merger of two Samsung Group-affiliated companies. Moon’s lawyer said the chairman denied the allegations, according to reports in Korean media. Authorities also want to know whether Samsung made donations to benefit a confidante of the president in exchange for help getting NPS support. Jay Y. Lee, Samsung’s heir apparent and de facto leader, was summoned as a suspect on Jan. 12 and questioned more than 22 hours. Prosecutors will decide whether they will request an arrest warrant or not as early as today. Both Samsung and Lee have denied wrongdoing. The NPS has said it supported the deal based on investment considerations…
A Scandal at Korea’s Retirement Giant
