KT Board: "No More Prior Control Over CEO’s Personnel Authority"

Accelerating Board-Level Governance Reform

The KT Board of Directors has taken steps to improve its corporate governance, including removing the board’s prior approval authority over the CEO’s personnel decisions.

KT Headquarters. Photo by Jo Yongjune jun21@

The KT Board of Directors announced on the 23rd that it recently amended certain regulations related to personnel and organizational restructuring. The main change is the abolition of the existing rule that required the CEO to obtain the board’s prior approval for the appointment and dismissal of executive vice presidents and for organizational restructuring. Under the previous regulations, all organizational changes required ‘prior reporting’ to the board, but this has now been changed to a simple ‘reporting’ requirement, thereby restoring the CEO’s management autonomy.

In addition, the board decided to restrict outside director Lee Seunghun, who is under suspicion of violating company regulations, from attending board and committee meetings or participating in deliberations until a judicial decision is confirmed. The board also recommended that Lee refrain from exercising voting rights. These actions are interpreted as measures to ensure fairness and reliability in the board’s decision-making process.

The KT Board of Directors expressed its expectation that these measures will strengthen the CEO’s management accountability and allow the board to focus on its core roles of making and overseeing management decisions.

Kim Yongheon, Chairman of the KT Board, stated, “This resolution is intended to enhance the rationality and transparency of board operations and to clarify the roles of the CEO and the board. With the launch of the new CEO system, we will continue to improve our governance structure to meet the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders through ongoing institutional reforms.”

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