South Korea's antitrust watchdog says outside directors at major conglomerates are still being passive when it comes to making management decisions.

Data by the Fair Trade Commission released on Monday showed that over a one-year period starting from May of last year, around six-thousand-700 motions were forwarded to the board of directors of 250 listed companies for approval, but only 24 were rejected. 

Motions related to important internal transactions were all approved by the boards.

South Korea implemented the outside director system in 1992 to prevent chief executives or major shareholders from making unilateral decisions that run against a company's interests.

But outside directors have often been criticized for their passivity and indifference.

Meanwhile, only 17-point-eight percent of some one-thousand-800 affiliates of 49 conglomerates had owners or their family members listed as board members, highlighting a steady decline since peaking at 27-point-two percent in 2012.

An official at the antitrust watchdog said it's undesirable for the heads of conglomerates and their families to avoid legal responsibility by not sitting on the board, while influencing business decisions.