New rules push major firms to tap more female outside directors

The number of female outside directors at major South Korean companies has risen sharply over the past year due to a tougher law, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.

A total of 219 firms belonging to the country's top 30 business groups had a combined 120 women outside directors as of end-September, up 38 from a year earlier, according to the Leaders Index.

The figure accounted for 15.4 percent of the 780 C-suite positions offered by the major companies, up from 10.6 percent from a year earlier.

The sharp gain in female outside executives came as a revised capital market law that puts restrictions on male-dominated boards of big corporations came into effect in August this year.

Out of the total outside directors, 193, or 24.7 percent, were former ranking officials, senior judges or prosecutors. The ratio was down from 26.1 percent a year earlier.

In comparison, 394 professors served as outside directors at those corporations as of end-September, up from 279 a year earlier. Their percentage inched up to 37.7 percent from 36.2 percent over the cited period, according to the corporate tracker. (Yonhap)