A wave of departures among technology executives, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), is sweeping through KT (030200.KS), South Korea's largest fixed-line telecom operator, ahead of incoming CEO Park Yun-young's inauguration.
Observers say the AI business strategy pursued under current CEO Kim Young-shub — built largely around a partnership with Microsoft — is set for a major overhaul once the Park Yun-young era begins.
Oh Seung-pil, KT's chief technology officer and executive vice president heading the technology innovation division, sent an internal email to employees on Thursday announcing his resignation, sources in the telecom industry said. In a phone call with the Seoul Economic Daily, Oh declined to elaborate, saying only, "I have nothing I can say."
Oh is an information technology veteran who previously worked at NASA, Yahoo and Microsoft. He served as head of the digital division at Hyundai Card before joining KT in November 2023 alongside CEO Kim Young-shub to lead the company's technology operations. Other executives at the senior vice president level and above were also reportedly notified of their departures on the same morning. One KT executive in charge of AI told the Seoul Economic Daily, "No comment," when asked about the resignation.
Earlier, Shin Dong-hun, KT's former chief AI officer, had already left the company to return to NCSoft, the game developer where he previously worked.
A new executive lineup to fill the vacancies is expected to take shape immediately after Park is formally appointed as CEO at the annual general shareholders' meeting on March 31. The incoming Park leadership is expected to pursue organizational stability through a large-scale personnel reshuffle while swiftly redefining strategies for future growth engines — including AI, data centers, cloud computing and cybersecurity — areas where KT has fallen behind competitors in recent months.
Above all, the Microsoft-centric AI strategy is widely expected to undergo a major overhaul. Industry observers have pointed out that the dual-track approach — jointly developing AI with Microsoft while simultaneously advancing proprietary AI capabilities — does not align with the rapidly evolving AI landscape. "There is a high likelihood that KT's AI business strategy will be strengthened toward areas that can deliver tangible results, such as agentic AI," an IT industry source said.