"National Pension Service investments in WMD, coal, tobacco companies top $4.4bn," 20 Oct 2023

South Korea’s largest pension fund National Pension Service (NPS) has invested more than 6 trillion won ($4.42 billion) in companies that are excluded or monitored by overseas pension funds, including those related to weapons of mass destruction (WMD), coal, and tobacco.

[...] It also invested 2.46 trillion won in three environmentally polluting companies, 297.3 billion won in a company violating human rights, and 40 billion won in a company responsible for both pollution and human rights violations.

Additionally, as much as 1.12 trillion won was invested in three companies that are not excluded from investment but are classified as watchlisted due to serious corruption.

[...] But NPS only considers excluding or restricting investments in climate change. After declaring its coal-free policy in 2021, it has been conducting a study to define the criteria for excluding the “coal mining and power generation industry” and preparing a phased action plan, but progress has been slow so far.
[...]

[Additional information translated from the Korean language page]

NPS has been investing 70 billion won in one of the companies involved in the humidifier sanitizer scandal without even receiving the compensation it was supposed to receive.

[...] Under these circumstances, NPS still held 70 billion won worth of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser shares as of July this year. Last year, a national audit revealed that the fund had invested 300 billion won in Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, prompting calls to disinvest.

The agency said in June that it had drastically reduced its investment in humidifier sterilizer-related companies by limiting the amount of investment to below the benchmark, but it is still investing a significant amount.