The proportion of female executives at South Korea’s major companies came to 7 percent in the first quarter of 2023 following last year’s implementation of a related law, a corporate tracker said.

The number of female executives at 349 out of the country’s top 500 firms by sales reached 997 at end-March, accounting for 6.8 percent of the total 14,718, according to the Leaders Index.

The proportion was up 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier and 1.7 times the tally for the first quarter of 2019.

Yet, nearly 28 percent of the 349 companies, or 98, had no female executives.

The number of outside directors climbed 9.8 percent on-year to 212 over the one-year period, while that of internal directors edged up two to 30. (Yonhap)