KT names Park Yoon-young as CEO candidate

KT CEO candidate Park Yoon-young / Courtesy of KT

KT, a major telecom operator, nominated former executive Park Yoon-young as its CEO candidate on Tuesday.

The company’s board nomination committee said it reached the decision after conducting in-depth interviews with three finalists, including Joo Hyung-chul, a former presidential economic adviser and former SK Communications CEO, and Hong Won-pyo, a former chief of SK Shieldus.

The nominees were evaluated based on criteria set by the board, with a focus on enhancing corporate value, restoring internal and external trust, fostering a cooperative management environment and presenting a clear management vision and direction for change and innovation to underpin the company’s sustainable growth.

Park will officially assume the CEO role following approval at a regular shareholders’ meeting scheduled for March next year.

“(Park) is a figure who has delivered tangible results in the digital transformation and business-to-business segments, backed by extensive experience in KT’s businesses and strong technology-driven management capabilities,” the board said.

Park joined Korea Telecom, the predecessor of KT, in 1992 as a network technology researcher and went on to hold a series of key posts at the company, including head of the future business division and the business consulting unit. In 2020, he was appointed head of KT’s Enterprise Group, overseeing the integration of the company’s enterprise and global business units.

Park reportedly stressed the importance of honoring commitments to shareholders and the market during his CEO race, while presenting practical measures to address the company’s pressing challenges.

Based on these strengths, the board concluded that Park is the right person to lead efforts to strengthen KT’s future competitiveness.

“We believe Park is well-suited to establish a foundation for sustainable growth under a new management vision, lead change and innovation, swiftly restore trust both inside and outside the company and build cooperative relationships with stakeholders,” Kim Yong-hun, the board’s chairman, said.

If endorsed, he will take office at a critical moment, facing two urgent challenges: restoring public trust after the recent mobile payment fraud incident and accelerating the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) business.

The KT headquarters in central Seoul / Yonhap

The first order of business will be dealing with the fallout from a large-scale micro-payment scam that used illegal small base stations to siphon off subscribers’ data and carry out unauthorized mobile payments.

The incident, which surfaced in September, affected at least 368 subscribers, resulting in losses from unauthorized payments of about 240 million won ($162,600). It also compromised the personal data of about 22,227 customers.

The breach has hit a serious blow to KT’s credibility as a telecom operator capable of protecting sensitive customer information.

The crisis management will require not only technical security fixes, but also demonstrating corporate responsibility and accountability in privacy protection to restore consumers’ trust, especially as the public grows fatigued over a series of data breach cases.

KT would need to demonstrate swift and transparent compensation for victims, a thorough disclosure of the incident’s root causes and credible measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Depending on the results of the ongoing public-private joint investigation by the Ministry of Science and ICT, KT could be required to waive early termination fees for affected customers, face administrative fines or even suffer business suspensions.

Financial pressures are likely to follow on near-term performance as a result of the fallout from the breach. KT is currently replacing subscriber identity module (SIM) cards for free and could face additional costs from penalty waivers, potential fines or legal disputes. Subscriber churn adds another layer of uncertainty, as it would likely grow if the company waives the early termination fee.

As the company also continues to face allegations that it attempted to downplay or withhold information about the incident during the early stages of the probe, Park is expected to not only rebuild trust with customer-facing remedies but also stabilize internal operations.

At the same time, KT must regain momentum in its AI and digital transformation road map. Last year, the company announced a plan to invest 2.3 trillion won over five years, in partnership with Microsoft, to establish a Korea-specific AI model and cloud ecosystem. It also set a target of 4.6 trillion won in cumulative AI revenue by 2029.

However, the recent crisis has slowed progress, and KT’s exclusion from a government-backed AI foundation model project has raised concerns about its competitiveness in next-generation digital businesses, placing significant pressure on the new CEO to accelerate the company’s AI transformation.