South Korea’s state pension fund said Friday that it would exercise its voting rights at Hanjin KAL, the holding firm of logistics conglomerate Hanjin Group, an apparent move to intervene in an ongoing leadership feud among the founding family members.

“The National Pension Service has decided to exercise its voting rights at Hanjin KAL and GIIR on its own after retrieving them from its proxy agents,” said the state-run pension fund operator after a meeting among its committee members that review issues related to responsible investment. GIIR is a holding company of advertising firms and an affiliate of LG Group.

The pension fund held a 2.9 percent stake in Hanjin KAL, which owns the nation’s largest airline Korean Air and logistics firm Hanjin Shipping, and the shares have been entrusted to some 10 different agencies.

The recent power struggle between Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae and his elder sister and former Korean Air vice president Hyun-ah has made the headlines recently. The Hanjin chairman, who also serves as the president and CEO of Korean Air, hopes to extend his tenure, scheduled to expire on March 23, at the airline firm. His elder sister, who rose in infamy in the “nut rage” scandal in 2014, is opposing the reappointment of her brother as CEO, saying he lacks business acumen to lead the conglomerate. The former vice president holds 6.49 percent of the holding group. Hanjin KAL’s shareholders meeting is slated to be held on March 27.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)