KT CEO Final Candidate Announced Today... The Choice of Outside Directors

Chasanggyun, Kim Youngseop, and Park Yoonyoung Candidates Undergo In-Depth Interviews Today
Board to Decide Final CEO Candidate
Personal Relationships Between Candidates and Outside Directors Likely to Influence Decision

'Jininsa Daecheonmyeong (盡人事待天命).'

The day to decide the final candidate for KT CEO has dawned. On the 4th, after each candidate completes the in-depth interview with the board of directors (Nomination Committee for Director Candidates), the primary race will also come to an end. In fact, only the board's final decision remains. Since all three candidates?Kim Young-seop, former CEO of LG CNS; Cha Sang-gyun, professor at Seoul National University; and Park Yoon-young, former head of KT's corporate division (President)?are competitive, it is expected that the major shareholders' intentions and personal relationships with board members will significantly influence the final candidate selection.

Currently, KT's top three shareholders are the National Pension Service, Hyundai Motor Group, and Shinhan Bank. The industry speculates that since the board was formed last June through shareholder recommendations, many of the outside directors are likely nominees recommended by the major shareholders within the current board.

Looking at the outside directors: ▲ Kim Yong-heon (lawyer at Daeryuk Aju Law Firm) ▲ Kwak Woo-young (former head of Hyundai Motor Vehicle IT Development Center) ▲ Kim Sung-chul (professor, Department of Media, Korea University) ▲ Ahn Young-kyun (director, International Federation of Accountants IFAC) ▲ Yoon Jong-soo (former Vice Minister of Environment) ▲ Lee Seung-hoon (representative partner of KCGI Global Division, former executive director at SK Telecom) ▲ Cho Seung-ah (professor, Seoul National University Business School) ▲ Choi Yang-hee (president of Hallym University, former Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning).

All of them belong to the Nomination Committee for Director Candidates and hold the authority to decide the final CEO candidate. For the candidates, not only the interviews but also personal relationships with the outside directors are influential.

Director Sangkyun Cha of the Graduate School of Data Science at Seoul National University is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 9th. / Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

Director Choi Yang-hee has a close connection with Professor Cha. She graduated from the Department of Electronic Engineering at Seoul National University. She completed her master's in computer science at KAIST and earned a Ph.D. in computer science from the ?cole Nationale Sup?rieure des T?l?communications (ENST) in France. She was appointed as a professor at Seoul National University in 1991 and served as chair of the Seoul National University AI Committee from 2019 to 2020. She worked alongside Professor Cha as a colleague professor at Seoul National University for a long time, and their research fields are similar.

When Director Choi served as Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning during the Park Geun-hye administration, Professor Cha was an outside director at KT (2012?2019). Since the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning was KT's supervisory ministry at the time, it is speculated in the industry that there was considerable communication between the two. Director Cho Seung-ah, who is currently a professor at Seoul National University Business School, is also likely to be favorable toward Professor Cha, given they work at the same institution.

Professor Cha, who had been called a 'dark horse,' surged to the forefront near the end of the primary race, with rumors circulating that he was a strong contender. Professor Cha's spouse, Yoon Seung-eun, is the head of the Court Library and is from the 23rd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, the same as President Yoon Suk-yeol. Although it is difficult to say that family ties with the president would earn significant points, the industry consensus is that having connections makes a big difference compared to having none.

Director Kwak Woo-young worked as an executive at LG Electronics for over ten years. His tenure overlapped significantly with former CEO Kim. When Kwak served as head of the WLL Terminal Research Center at LG Electronics in 2002 (as executive director), Kim was an executive director in the Financial Improvement Team of LG's Restructuring Headquarters. They worked as fellow executives at the same company for over ten years until Kwak moved to Hyundai Motor. Director Kwak is also an alumnus of Korea University, the same as former CEO Kim.

Former President Park is a 'traditional KT man' with strong trust within the company and a significant advantage in knowing the industry better than the other two candidates. It is said he can secure the votes of telecommunications experts within the board. Among the outside directors, the only person who has ever worked in the telecommunications industry is Lee Seung-hoon, chair of the Nomination Committee for Director Candidates and representative partner of KCGI Global Division. He previously worked as an executive director in charge of M&A at SK Telecom. Coincidentally, former President Park also moved to SK Telecom before returning to KT.

The most unfavorable rumor currently surrounding former President Park is that he has ties to the current administration. The industry rumors say that during the early days of former CEO Koo's administration, former President Park was able to operate almost on equal footing with former CEO Koo because of the strong influence of former outside director Lee Kang-cheol, who was appointed during the Moon Jae-in government. It is said that the National Pension Service, KT's largest shareholder and effectively representing the current administration, may not view former President Park favorably.

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