Hanmi Group, led by Chairman Song Young-sook, criticized the vision put forth by her sons, Hanmi Pharm CEO and Coree Group Chairman Lim Jong-yoon and Hanmi Fine Chemical CEO Lim Jong-hoon, who oppose the merger between Hanmi Group and OCI Group.

The criticism came in response to a press conference held by the Lim brothers, where they outlined their ambitious vision for the future of the company, on Thursday.

During the conference, Hanmi Pharm CEO Lim expressed his desire to attract investments of over 1 trillion won, citing Hanmi Pharmaceutical's success in launching 450 chemical drugs as a foundation for their capability to produce over 100 biopharmaceuticals.

The CEO even promised to step down from his position if he failed to achieve such feats.

However, Hanmi Group rebuked the basis of the 100 biopharmaceuticals production vision, pointing out a lack of understanding between the manufacturing processes of synthetic drugs and biopharmaceuticals.

"There are significant differences in production methods according to the characteristics of biopharmaceuticals," the group said. "Also, Hanmi's Pyeongtaek bioplant is a large-scale production base for biopharmaceuticals using microbial culture methods."

Simplifying this vision to produce over 100 biopharmaceuticals with our current experience and capabilities gives an empty impression, it added.

Furthermore, the group also critiqued President Lim's long-term goal of reaching a market capitalization of 200 trillion won as "challenging yet paradoxically very unrealistic and lacking in substance."

"To pursue such a goal, a more realistic, concrete, and objective strategy must be presented and evaluated by the shareholders," the group said.

Hanmi Group also criticizes Korean advisory firm

Meanwhile, the group also issued a statement on Thursday, voicing concerns over the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability (KCGS) to side with the two sons.

As the regular shareholders' meeting of Hanmi Science approaches on the March 28, opinions from both domestic and international proxy advisory firms have shown significant divergence.

The upcoming shareholders' meeting will consider the appointment of six directors proposed by the company side, pushing for integration between Hanmi Science and OCI Group, and five directors proposed by the two sons, who are opposed to the integration.

KCGS has sided with the proposals made by the two sons, recommending approval of four items they proposed, while Glass Lewis, a global proxy advisory firm, supported all candidates proposed by the company side and opposing proposals made by the two sons.

Proxy advisory firms, independent institutions with no specific organizational ties, analyze major shareholder meeting agenda items based on objective voting guidelines and provide ESG evaluation services. It is known that passive funds, which operate based on specific stock indices, generally follow these recommendations.

Regarding KCGS' decision to support the two sons, Hanmi Science pointed out three main issues with the report -- unfair official communication channels, support for a candidate outside of KCGS's voting guidelines, and the refusal to acknowledge the business synergies of the merger based on speculation and estimation.

"While we respect and do not deny the independence of advisory opinions, KCGS's analysis, which reserves judgment on one side and exclusively examines the other, is inherently unfair," the group said.