Kakao Internal Whistleblowing... Union Says "Lost Self-Regulation Ability, Management Must Be Investigated"

Kakao Pangyo Ajit in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Kim Jeong-ho, Head of Management Support at Kakao CA Council, exposed internal company issues through his social media account, prompting the Kakao labor union to request an investigation into the related executives.

The Kakao branch of the National Chemical, Textile, and Food Industry Labor Union announced on the 30th that it will request an investigation by the externally composed 'Compliance and Trust Committee' regarding executive misconduct. On the 29th, the union released its stance on the current situation inside Kakao through a post titled "Through the Eyes of the Crew, at the Crew's Level" on the company's internal network.

Seo Seung-wook, branch chief, emphasized, "Employees have continuously raised issues about the endless executive misconduct, but the company has been operating secret emergency management meetings without any response. However, rather than resolving the problems internally, the disclosures continue. It is now impossible to solve these issues with the current internal executives, so a personnel overhaul of the management is inevitable."

He added, "The community executives who caused the current crisis have already lost their ability for self-purification, as seen in the recent misuse of corporate cards by the head of Kakao’s finance group. Therefore, an objective external perspective and democratic control by the majority are necessary."

Seo also stated, "We have continuously requested that employees participate in the management reform committee alongside executives, but have received no response. Even after reading news about emergency management meetings over the past five weeks, no specific problem cases or solutions have been disclosed, and the crew has never been informed about the meeting contents or agendas. The management reform committee must no longer be operated in a closed manner," explaining the background for the demand for employee participation.

Additionally, the union requested an investigation into Kim’s verbal abuse and profanity. Seo said, "If situations where 'they deserved to be scolded' are allowed, crew members will find it difficult to be protected from workplace harassment in the future. Therefore, this incident should not become a trial by public opinion, and the Compliance and Trust Committee should investigate it from a different perspective than rooting out privileges and corruption to conduct a fact check."

Earlier, Kim posted on his Facebook that during an internal Kakao meeting, he proposed assigning the Kakao AI Campus construction team, which is scheduled to be completed in December this year, to the Jeju ESG Center project starting in January next year. However, an executive rejected this and insisted on selecting an external contractor without approval or agreement.

Kim, who is in charge of audit duties, reportedly unleashed profanity and verbal abuse during a work report session on the 22nd, sparking controversy. He acknowledged the use of profanity and explained the circumstances of his outburst.

He asked, "Why is everyone silent when an executive claims, without approval or agreement from the responsible executive, that the construction company handling a project worth 70 to 80 billion won was 'just originally decided'?" and admitted, "I used profanity, saying 'What kind of f***ing culture is this?' while recounting cases I thought were problematic."

Kim also continued his internal revelations, saying, "There were many rumors that Kakao would fail because of golf, but after investigation, about 100 CEOs do not have golf memberships, and only a specific department had tour-level players."

He is the only internal member of the external compliance oversight body, the 'Compliance and Trust Committee' (Junshinwi), and was recruited with great effort by Kim Beom-su, founder of Kakao and head of the Future Initiative Center, in September to help reform Kakao.

Kim’s internal revelations have created a turbulent atmosphere within Kakao. Employees and executives are rebutting the allegations, leading to a mudslinging atmosphere. Kakao holds a community management meeting every Monday at 7 a.m., chaired by Kim Beom-su, to seek solutions to management issues. The sixth meeting is scheduled for the 4th of next month.