Final Candidate to Be Selected After In-Depth Interviews with Three Nominees
Key Challenges: Managing Hacking Incident Aftermath and Expanding AI Business
The final candidate for KT's next CEO will be decided on December 16. The new CEO will face the tasks of managing the aftermath of a large-scale hacking incident and expanding new businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI).
The KT CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee will conduct in-depth interviews on this day with Park Yoon-young, former Head of KT's Corporate Business Division (President); Hong Won-pyo, former CEO of SK Shieldus; and Joo Hyung-chul, former CEO of SK Communications. After the interviews, the committee will select one final candidate.
The interviews will take place at an external venue, not at KT's headquarters. Each candidate will give a presentation for about 20 minutes based on their business plan, followed by a Q&A session with the committee members.
Park, known as a "true KT insider," is making his third attempt at the CEO position. He was among the final candidates when the current CEO Kim Young-seop was appointed, and he also competed until the end when former CEO Koo Hyun-mo was selected. Having joined Korea Telecom in 1992, Park has served as Vice President and President of KT's Corporate Business Division, and is regarded as an expert in business-to-business (B2B) operations.
Hong joined KT in 1994 and held positions such as Head of the Mobile Internet Business Division (Executive Vice President), but moved to Samsung Electronics in 2007. At Samsung Electronics, he served as Head of Global Marketing (President) and later became CEO of Samsung SDS in 2018. He served as CEO of SK Shieldus from August 2023 to April of this year.
Joo previously served as CEO of SK Telecom and SK Communications, and worked as Economic Advisor at the Blue House during the Moon Jae-in administration. After President Lee Jaemyung was elected, Joo was appointed as a member of the Economic Subcommittee 2 of the National Planning Committee. While at SK Communications, he managed the Nate and Cyworld personal information leak incident as the head of the Customer Information Protection Special Task Force, gaining experience in crisis management.
KT is expected to announce the final candidate around 6 p.m. after board discussions. The selected candidate will be officially appointed as CEO at the regular shareholders' meeting in March next year.
The new CEO will first have to address the recent unauthorized micro-payment and personal information leak incidents at KT. The damage includes 368 victims of unauthorized micro-payments, with total losses estimated at about 240 million won. The number of subscribers whose personal information was confirmed to have been leaked via illegal micro base stations (femtocells) stands at 22,227.
Depending on the results of the government investigation, KT must finalize compensation measures, such as waiving penalties for all affected customers. The company must also determine the exact cause, establish measures to prevent recurrence, and devise ways to restore customer trust. In particular, as suspicions have been raised that KT concealed or downplayed the incidents, strengthening internal controls and organizational discipline will be required.
Expanding new businesses, including AI, also remains a major challenge. Previously, KT announced its goal to achieve cumulative AI sales of 4.6 trillion won by 2029 through cooperation with Microsoft (MS). However, recent hacking incidents have reportedly slowed the execution of its AI business. The industry believes that the new CEO's initial response will determine KT's management stability and future growth trajectory.
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