'KT Communication Failure' Network Division Executive Replacement... Seo Chang-seok's Advancement

Seo Chang-seok, New KT Vice President and Head of Network Division
Hurries to Manage Crisis Amid Worst Emergency

Seo Chang-seok, Head of KT Network Division (Vice President). Photo by KT

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Lee Cheol-gyu, former head of the network division (Vice President) who was in charge of KT's nationwide wired and wireless internet outage that occurred on the 25th of last month, has stepped down from his position. Seo Chang-seok, KT Network Innovation TF Leader (Executive Vice President), who stepped in as a relief pitcher during the crisis, has been promoted to Vice President.

On the 12th, KT promoted Seo Chang-seok, Network Innovation TF Leader (Executive Vice President), to head of the network division (Vice President) through a personnel order, putting him in charge of wired and wireless infrastructure.

Born in 1967, Seo Chang-seok majored in electronic engineering at Sungkyunkwan University and earned a master's degree from the same university's graduate school. He served as head of the Network Technology Headquarters in the network division from 2013 to 2014, and as head of the Network Strategy Headquarters from 2015 to 2019. He previously served as head of the Jeonnam/Jeonbuk Regional Headquarters and took charge of the TF from the 25th of last month, overseeing the recovery from the communication outage incident.

Lee Cheol-gyu, former head of the network division, has been effectively classified as on standby leave. He previously served as head of KT Infrastructure Operation Innovation Office and CEO of KT Submarine, a subsidiary. Lee was considered one of the three key executives under KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo. Amid the heightened importance of wired infrastructure following incidents such as the Ahyeon branch fire in 2018, he was recognized for his expertise in wired networks and led the network division until now.

Alongside Seo Chang-seok, Kwon Hye-jin, former Network Strategy Headquarters Network Strategy Manager (Senior Executive Director), who also led the TF in managing the incident, was appointed as KT's first female head of the Network Strategy Headquarters.

An industry insider said, "Seo Chang-seok was praised for stepping up as a relief pitcher during KT's worst situation and quickly managing the incident," adding, "Internally, he was evaluated as having handled the situation quite well."

The KT network outage began around 11:16 a.m. on the 25th and lasted up to approximately 89 minutes nationwide. During router replacement work on the corporate network at the KT Busan office, a subcontractor worker entered an incorrect configuration command, which caused routing errors and led to the internet network outage. The primary contractor, KT, failed to detect the error during the pre-verification stage. Since the work was conducted while the network was still connected, the nationwide communication network went down, leading to an overall assessment of the incident as a "man-made disaster."

Meanwhile, KT has newly established the Network Operation Innovation Office in this organizational restructuring to utilize IT technologies and systems for network equipment operation, network management, and outage monitoring. It is explained that continuous inspections will be conducted through collaboration with the IT division, Convergence Technology Institute, and others to operate the network effectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.