Korea's health ministry said Friday that it has decided to give more clout to outside experts in exercising voting rights of the country's national pension fund.

The move would allow an expert committee of the National Pension Service to bring an issue up for discussion over the fund's voting rights if requested by more than three of its members, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which oversees the pension fund.

Currently, the expert committee is composed of seven college professors and an economic research fellow, and is empowered to exercise the fund's voting rights.

The decision underscored the government's efforts to further enhance transparency in exercising voting rights of Korea's national pension fund, the world's third-largest, with 622 trillion won ($582 billion) in assets.

Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said a top priority is to "win the public trust through a transparent and independent decision-making process."

Last year, the national pension fund, a major stakeholder in Samsung C&T Corp., voted in favor of a merger with Cheil Industries Inc., a unit of Samsung Group.

The merger made Samsung's de facto chief, Lee Jae-yong, the largest shareholder in the combined entity, now called Samsung C&T, which in turn owns a controlling stake in Samsung Electronics, the crown jewel of the conglomerate.

"There were social controversies when the fund's investment committee made its own decision on the merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries without bringing the agenda to the expert committee for discussion," Park said during a meeting earlier in the day.

The fund's investment committee is made up of between nine and 12 internal officials. The investment committee can refer a controversial case to the expert committee over the fund's voting rights.

The National Pension Service can exercise strong influences in the market and corporate mergers and acquisitions as it holds stakes in major Korean companies.

The national pension fund had a more than 5 percent stake in 275 Korean companies as of the end of 2016, including Samsung Electronics Co. and chipmaker SK hynix Inc. and Hyundai Motor Co.

The National Pension Service is also in the process of adopting a stewardship code, which encourages institutional investors to exercise their voting rights in the best interest of shareholders.(Yonhap)