Hyundai Motor Co. is mulling to nominate executive vice chairman Chung Euisun as board chair at the shareholders meeting in March to make him the legitimate representative of the world’s fifth largest automaking conglomerate.

According to the industry sources on Sunday, the auto giant plans to convene a meeting of its board of directors this week to finalize agenda for the upcoming annual shareholders’ meeting scheduled around March 18. The directors are expected to discuss whether to retain the seat of the incumbent board chair Chung Mong-koo, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman, whose term ends in March 16. Its independent director Choi Eun-soo, a lawyer from DR & Aju, also finishes his tenure next month.

Chung Mong-koo, born in 1938, has been doubling as the board chairman and chief executive of the automaker since March 1999. Last week, he became the first Korean to be inducted to the U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame, the industry’s top honor, for his contribution to the growth of Hyundai Motor and its sibling Kia Motors as the world’s fifth largest automaker and the advancement of the global auto industry.

His only son Chung Euisun has been making steady movements to take over the auto empire run by his father over the past two decades. He was promoted as executive vice chair of the group in September 2018 and appointed as CEO of Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Mobis. He was also named an internal director of Kia Motors in another step to reinforce his control on the group.

As the chair of Hyundai Motor, he would become the de facto leader of the Korean auto mogul.

By Lee Jong-hyuk and Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]