South Korea's state pension operator has decided to actively exercise its shareholders' right over Hanjin KAL, the holding firm of the country's largest flagship carrier Korean Air Lines.

Following Friday's meeting of the fund management committee of the National Pension Service(NPS), Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo, who heads the committee said the NPS will exercise its rights, albeit at a "minimum degree."

While the NPS plans to exercise its influence on matters including the holding company's modification of articles of association, it will not directly influence dismissals of board members.

The pension operator, however, will not apply its stewardship code nor actively give input into Korean Air Lines, which has taken flak for scandals involving the family of its largest shareholder Cho Yang-ho.

The NPS is the country's top institutional investor and the world's third-largest, with 644 trillion won or 576 billion U.S. dollars in assets.

It is the second-largest shareholder of Korean Air with an eleven-point-56 percent stake, and the third-largest of Hanjin KAL with a seven-point-34 percent stake.

In July 2018, the NPS adopted the stewardship code, a set of principles or guidelines aimed at getting institutional investors to actively engage in corporate governance to advance the interests of shareholders.