Hanmi weighs first external CEO candidate after major shareholder clash.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Korea’s longstanding drugmaker founded in 1973 as Hanmi Pharmaceutical Industry, stands at a pivotal crossroads after a high-profile clash between a major shareholder and the company’s current leadership. The dispute culminated in the departure of Park Jae-hyun, the veteran CEO who had been steering the group through a period of tension with the controlling stake, and the decision to appoint an external investment professional as a likely successor.
The moves are being driven by a four-way alliance inside and around Hanmi: Song Young-sook, Hanmi Group chair; Lim Jo-hyun, Hanmi Group vice-chairman; Shin Dong-guk, chair of Hanyang Precision; and venture investor Radé de Partners. Observers see this group as pressing a path that balances internal succession with external expertise in order to stabilise management and strategy.
On March 12, Hanmi’s board agreed to advance the nomination of Hwang Sang-yeon, head of private equity at HB Investment, as an inside director candidate. If approved at the company’s regular general meeting on the 31st, Hwang would become the first externally sourced leader to helm Hanmi in its 53-year history, marking a break with the company’s traditional internal succession.
Behind the upheaval lies deeper friction between Shin and Park, reflective of competing visions for Hanmi’s governance. Shin, long considered a “family ally” of the founder’s circle, previously supported a different faction in the group’s succession struggles and has faced accusations of steering management in ways critics say undermine professional leadership and R&D principles.
The rift includes specific policy clashes. Shin is said to have pressed for direct review of sensitive technology transfer contracts and for broader access to confidential know-how, concerns Park reportedly resisted on grounds of security and professional governance. Park has also alleged that Shin pushed for substituting Hanmi’s lipid-lowering drug Roszet’s raw materials with cheaper Chinese sources, a move Park contended would erode the founder Im Seong-gi’s emphasis on R&D quality. Shin denies these allegations, calling them unfounded and arguing that Park’s position was a factor in the leadership drift.
The feud intensified after an internal dispute over a Paltan plant manager’s misconduct, which Park alleges Shin shielded, enabling inappropriate conduct to go unchecked in pursuit of management autonomy. Shin has rejected the charges as baseless, while Park’s side contends the clash over personnel helped precipitate the leadership shake-up.
Amid the turmoil, employees gathered at Hanmi’s Seoul headquarters to protest the ongoing leadership tensions, criticizing what they described as direct interference by the controlling shareholder and questioning the board’s decisions, including a contentious real estate development project in Banpo-dong known as the Silver Town development, which has already spawned a separate legal dispute involving penalties.
Park Jae-hyun, in a post-meeting statement, said he did not insist on remaining CEO but urged the company to preserve the “Im Seong-gi spirit” and the core principle of quality management, hoping Hanmi’s governance could still unite around those values. Shin has since consolidated his stake with personal holdings and shares in Hanmi’s associated firms to about 29.83%, raising expectations of ongoing tensions as the roughly 1.5-year window before any potential governance shift closes.
For U.S. readers, the case matters because Hanmi is a significant player in Korea’s pharmaceutical sector with global ambitions. Leadership changes that affect R&D direction, supplier choices, and capital allocation can influence product pipelines, the stability of key supply chains, and market perceptions of Korea’s biotech governance. Any shift in Hanmi’s strategy could ripple through collaborations, licensing deals, and the availability of medicines like Roszet in markets beyond Korea, including the United States.