KT Next CEO Candidates Narrowed Down to Four Former and Current Executives... Yoon Jin-sik Eliminated (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The KT CEO primary election lineup has been finalized. The candidates have been narrowed down to a total of four current and former KT executives, with former Minister of Industry and Resources Yoon Jin-sik, who was considered a strong contender, being eliminated.

The KT Board of Directors announced the candidates for CEO on the 28th.

The candidates have been narrowed down to four: Park Yoon-young, former head of KT Corporate Division (President); Shin Soo-jung, head of KT Enterprise Division (Vice President); Yoon Kyung-rim, head of KT Group Transformation Division (President); and Lim Heon-moon, former head of KT Mass General Division (President). This sets the stage for a competition among current and former KT executives, with former Minister Yoon Jin-sik, who was strongly considered for the next CEO position, being eliminated.

The KT Governance Committee formed a selection advisory group consisting of five external experts in economics, management, leadership, future industries, and law to objectively evaluate internal and external candidates. After thoroughly reviewing the candidates' application documents, the advisory group conducted a narrowing process based on the CEO candidate requirements stipulated in the articles of incorporation.

The advisory group explained, "We comprehensively considered opinions on the ideal KT CEO image gathered from major shareholders including the National Pension Service and the KT labor union to evaluate both internal and external candidates."

For external candidates, after in-depth discussions among the selection advisory members, the 18 external candidates were narrowed down to two, and the results were reported to the Governance Committee on the same day.

The KT Governance Committee selected external interview candidates by directly reflecting the advisory group's narrowing results. For internal candidates, interviewees were selected from the candidates initially narrowed down by the advisory group, considering external experts' leadership assessments and past management performance.

Additionally, the KT Board of Directors established interview evaluation criteria to be used by the CEO Candidate Screening Committee, taking into account the CEO qualification requirements in the articles of incorporation and opinions on the ideal KT CEO image gathered from key stakeholders.

The interview evaluation criteria for this CEO candidate selection include ▲ establishing a sustainable growth foundation based on DX capabilities ▲ pursuit of change and innovation ▲ enhancement of corporate value ▲ strengthening ESG management. The CEO Candidate Screening Committee plans to conduct interviews and select CEO candidates based on these criteria.