South Korea's national pension fund said Wednesday it has decided to vote Hyundai Motor Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Chung Mong-koo off the company's board in its annual shareholder meeting this week, because of his conviction for embezzlement and breach of trust.

The decision by the National Pension Service, which owns a 4.56 percent stake in Hyundai Motor, is expected to add to pressure on the disgraced chairman, who will seek to be re-elected for another three-year term on the board this Friday. "The fund's committee decided to vote against keeping Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo as the company director on March 14," said an official at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs. The ministry supervises the national pension fund, the nation's biggest institutional investor.

It's the first time the pension fund has decided to vote against an owner of a family-run business conglomerate.

Chung, who runs Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp., was sentenced by a lower court early last year to three years in prison on conviction of embezzling US$100 million in company funds.

An appeals court later suspended the sentence for three years, allowing the 69-year-old chairman to run his business as usual, citing his importance to the economy.

Early this month, ISS Governance Services, the New York-based investor-advisory group also called for investors to oust Chung from the board, saying his criminal record damaged Hyundai Motor.

Together with Kia Motors, Hyundai Motor is the world's sixth-largest automaker by production.

Separately, the pension fund said it would also vote Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Chairman Park Yong-sung off the board of Doosan Infracore Co. The fund holds a 2.92 percent stake in Doosan Infracore.

Park was sentenced to a three-year prison term in 2006 for embezzlement, but his term was suspended later for five years.

SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap)