South Korea’s state-run pension fund has expanded its stakes in the country’s blue-chip shares last year amid growing calls that it should exercise its voting right as a major stakeholder, data showed Monday.

The National Pension Fund either increased its stock holding or held it steady in 20 out of 30 companies for which it holds a 5 percent stake or more as of the end of 2012, compared with the previous year, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service. It reduced its holdings in the remaining 10 listed firms.

The country’s largest institutional investor had a 7.19 percent stake in top-cap Samsung Electronics Co. as of end-2012, up from a 5.84 percent share holding from a year earlier. Its stake in No. 1 automaker Hyundai Motor hiked slightly to 6.83 percent from 6.75 percent over the cited period.

NPS’s shareholdings in Samsung Electronics surpassed that held by Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, whose stake in the tech giant stood at 3.38 percent as of end-2012, the data showed.

The state-run pension fund increased its holding in blue-chip auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis, to 7.17 percent from 6 percent, they showed. FSS data showed that the NPS also expanded its holdings in home appliance maker LG Electronics Inc., chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. and Internet portal service provider NHN Corp.

The data came amid growing calls from several industry watchers that the NPS should also exercise its voting right, since its status as the largest shareholder in the blue-chip firms gives the pension fund full legitimacy to engage in their management.

“It is a shareholder’s right to exercise its vote. If it refuses to play such a role, it is negligence of responsibility as a fund manager in charge of handling taxpayers’ money,” said Kim Woo-chan, a business professor at Korea University.

But other analysts oppose the idea, saying that it can be misinterpreted as government intervention, which will hurt a company’s management independence.

Meanwhile, the pension fund reduced its stakes in No. 5 banking firm Shinhan Financial Group Co. to 7.28 percent from 7.34 percent, and the country’s leading steelmaker POSCO to 5.99 percent from 6.81 percent in the tallied period, according to the data. (Yonhap News)