Jaeheon Jung, SKT President: "We Will Return to Profitability... Aim to Become Korea's Leading AI Company"

"The Essence of the Mobile Business Is the Customer...
We Will Strive to Secure Trust"

Jaeheon Jung, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of SK Telecom, stated that the company "will return to profitability" in response to its recent shift to a loss.

On the afternoon of November 3, at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where the "SK AI Summit 2025" was being held, Jung spoke with reporters about SK Telecom's third-quarter results, which showed a return to losses, and made these remarks.

Jaeheon Jung, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of SK Telecom, is answering reporters' questions on the afternoon of the 3rd at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where the "SK AI Summit 2025" is being held. Photo by Myunghwan Lee

SK Telecom’s consolidated operating profit for the third quarter was 4.84 billion won, a decrease of 90.9% compared to the same period last year. During the same period, net loss reached 166.7 billion won, marking a shift into the red.

Jung also presented a mid- to long-term vision focused on key businesses such as artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile network operations (MNO). He said, "We have achieved many results in MNO and AI, which are the main pillars of our business," adding, "In particular, we have seen significant achievements in AI, and by collaborating with global big tech companies, we aim to become Korea’s leading AI company." Jung continued, "Through these efforts, I believe we can contribute to Korea’s goal of becoming one of the world’s top three AI authorities."

He also stated his intention to maintain SK Telecom’s current AI business direction. Jung explained, "SK Telecom’s AI business has been expanding from AI infrastructure to AI solutions," and added, "While this direction remains unchanged, we will consider pivoting or focusing on specific areas depending on business developments."

Jung also addressed the hacking incident involving user USIM information that occurred in April. He emphasized, "The core competitiveness of the MNO business lies with our customers," and stressed, "We will work to reliably secure customer trust."

When asked whether the investment plan for the AI company-in-company (CIC) proposed during the tenure of former CEO Yoo Youngsang would be maintained, Jung responded, "I have not yet completed the full transition of all work," but added, "We will carefully review the scale of the AI business and pursue a vision that is achievable."

Former CEO Yoo announced at a town hall meeting in September that the company would launch an internal AI organization as a CIC. At that time, SK Telecom set a goal to invest more than 5 trillion won in the AI CIC over the next five years and to achieve annual sales of over 5 trillion won by 2030.

Meanwhile, Jung is the first SK Telecom CEO with a legal background. He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in public law and completed the 29th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute before serving as a judge. He worked at the Seoul District Court, Daejeon District Court, and Suwon District Court, and held positions such as Director of the Court Administration Office’s Information Management Bureau and professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He joined SK Telecom as Head of the Legal Group in 2020 and has served as President of External Relations since last year.

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