In line with its earlier pledge, Samsung Electronics Co. said it was adding non-Korean national and female outside directors for diversity in its boardroom.

The company has announced such a decision after it held a board meeting on Friday where it set an agenda for the upcoming shareholders’ meeting scheduled on March 23 that includes adding new independent directors, adjusting limit on directors’ compensation and stock split plan.

The board recommended Kiswe Mobile Chairman Kim Jeong-hoon, Ewha Women’s University professor Kim Sun-wook and Seoul National University professor Park Byung-kook for new independent directors, replacing former Yonsei University president Kim Han-joong and Seoul National University professor Lee Byung-ki whose terms end next month.

Kim Jeong-hoon is a Korean-American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded Kiswe Mobile in 2013, a company that makes mobile applications for watching sports. Kim Sun-wook, former president of Ewha Women’s University, served as the first female minister of government legislation during the Roh Moo-hyun administration.

It isn’t the first time for the South Korean tech behemoth to hire foreign or female outside directors. The company vowed the mix presence to be permanent as a part of a series of measures to enhance transparency and better reflect shareholders’ views.

It had foreign outside directors including CEO of Bayerische Landesbank Seoul Franz-Hermann Hirlinger, Applied Materials Chairman Tetsuo Iwasaki and Icon Medialab Chairman Goran Sture Malm between 1998 and 2009. It also appointed its first female independent director Kim Eun-mi, Ewha Women’s University professor in 2013.

By Hwang Hyung-gyu and Choi Mira

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