Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. held an extraordinary shareholders meeting, the first in six years to appoint two outside directors: Yoo Myung-hee, a former trade minister, and Heo Eun-nyeong, an economics professor. Yoo served as the nation's top negotiator for free trade talks during the Moon Jae-in administration. She was also one of the final candidates to run for the director-general of the World Trade Organization in 2020.

Yoo, a trade specialist, is expected to offer consultations to Samsung as it faces geopolitical challenges amid the escalating US-China rivalry.Heo, a professor of energy resources engineering at Seoul National University, is the vice president of the International Association for Energy Economics. He is expected to play a role in the tech giant��s environmental, social and governance efforts. The rare meeting was convened on request of the current outside directors after two members departed in recent months - Han Hwa-jin stepped down as he was appointed as the first environment minister for the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and Park Byung-kook, an engineering professor at Seoul National University, passed away in May.With the new appointments, the company��s board of directors consists of six outside directors and five in-house directors.

Samsung is scheduled to hold a general meeting in March of next year, during which Chairman Lee Jae-yongï's board membership is highly likely to top the agenda.