[News Figures] Yoon Kyung-rim Steps Down from KT Next CEO Candidate List

With Unanimous Board Approval, Candidate Selected; Within Two Weeks, Ruling Party Opposition Leads to 'Difficulties Passing the General Meeting' Judgment

Yoon Kyung-rim, president and head of the Group Transformation Division, who was the next CEO candidate for KT, is reported to have expressed his intention to resign from the candidacy.

According to the telecommunications industry on the 23rd, Yoon reportedly told KT directors at a meeting the day before, "If I hold on any longer, KT will be ruined," expressing his intention to withdraw from the next CEO candidacy. Although the directors present at the meeting tried to dissuade him, Yoon is said to have maintained his stance on resigning. Regarding this, KT's public relations office stated, "So far, President Yoon has not officially announced his withdrawal from the candidacy, nor have we received any such information," adding, "We are verifying the facts."

Earlier, KT's board of directors had nominated President Yoon as the final candidate for the next CEO on the 7th. He was known as the "right-hand man" of the current KT CEO, Ku Hyeon-mo, and was the most frequently mentioned figure in political circles during the candidate selection process.

In particular, he was the most opposed figure within the ruling party. Lawmakers from the ruling party on the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee raised suspicions, saying, "When CEO Ku became the subject of an investigation, he suddenly resigned and allegedly instructed to appoint his avatar Yoon Kyung-rim and put Shin Su-jeong as the second choice." Due to this, some analysts suggest that Yoon may have been unable to withstand the resignation pressure mainly from the ruling party before and after being selected as the next CEO candidate.

Additionally, there is analysis that Yoon felt burdened as the National Pension Service (NPS), KT's largest shareholder, showed signs of strengthening its voting rights and declared it would actively express its opinions at the shareholders' meeting. The NPS had raised concerns from the early stages of KT's next CEO appointment process about the fairness and transparency of the procedures and was expected to vote against Yoon at the shareholders' meeting.

It is also reported that even Hyundai Motor Group, the second-largest shareholder previously considered friendly, conveyed the opinion that the board should consider the major shareholders' intentions in key issues such as the appointment of the CEO or outside directors at KT, leading the industry to believe that Yoon was contemplating his position. The combined shares of the NPS and Hyundai Motor Group amount to about 18%, but the industry's consensus is that their influence on other shareholders is even greater.

Born in 1963, Yoon graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Business Administration and earned a master's degree in Management Science and a doctorate in Economics from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). After joining KT in 2006, he served as head of the New Business Promotion Headquarters (executive director), head of the Media Headquarters (executive director) in 2008, and head of the Service Development Office (executive director) in 2009, handling new business discovery and convergence businesses such as media. He then moved to CJ but returned to KT in 2014 during the tenure of former chairman Hwang Chang-gyu. He transferred to Hyundai Motor Company in 2019 and returned to KT in 2021 after being recruited by CEO Ku.

Within the company, he is regarded as a representative "strategist." He is known to have played a leading role in Hyundai Motor and CJ making large-scale investments in KT. Hyundai Motor exchanged shares with KT to cooperate on future mobility technologies. KT also formed a strategic alliance with Shinhan Bank through a share exchange. He also led the merger of CJ ENM's online video service (OTT) TVING and KT's OTT service SEASON.

KT plans to hold a shareholders' meeting on the 31st to resolve agenda items including the appointment of the CEO candidate. Even if Yoon officially announces his resignation, the shareholders' meeting will proceed as scheduled, but a "management vacuum" situation seems inevitable for the time being, including the reappointment of the CEO candidate.