SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has been ordered to pay New York hedge fund Mason Capital Management more than $32 million, the Ministry of Justice said on Thursday, in a dispute stemming from the 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates.

Mason Capital had claimed $200 million in its case with the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), but its argument was only partly accepted.

Mason Capital argued that its investors suffered damage as a result of government influence over the decision of South Korea's largest pension fund, the National Pension Service (NPS), to approve the $8 billion merger of Samsung affiliates Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015.

Last year, the PCA ordered the South Korean government to pay U.S. hedge fund Elliott about $108.5 million in a case stemming from the same merger.

In the Mason Capital case, the PCA ordered the South Korean government to pay Mason Capital about $11 million in fees and interest in addition to the $32 million award, the justice ministry said.

The ministry said it would "issue its analysis of the ruling and future plan" later. Mason Capital did not have an immediate comment.