Nonghyup chairman Choi Won-byung was reelected Friday to head the nation’s biggest financial network for another four years despite a major standoff with its union leaders.

Choi, who received 191 out of 288 votes from Nonghyup representatives, will lead the separation of the federation’s financial business from its distribution of agricultural products in March.

The 2.45-million-member Nonghyup, or the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, holds 287 trillion won in assets and has 22 affiliates under its wing.

Under a revised Nonghyup bill which passed the National Assembly last March, the federation will set up holding companies for its distribution and banking divisions, as well as a Nonhyup bank, a life insurance company and a nonlife insurer.

Choi had been under pressure to resign after Nonghyup’s online banking network, the nation’s largest, crashed in April. State prosecutors concluded that it was caused by North Korea’s cyber attack.

Choi graduated from President Lee Myung-bak’s alma mater Dongji Commercial High School.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)