KT (030200.KS), South Korea's largest fixed-line telecom operator, will hold its annual general meeting on March 31 to formally confirm the appointment of CEO candidate Park Yun-young. As KT is already carrying out executive personnel changes ahead of Park's inauguration, organizational restructuring is expected to accelerate immediately after the shareholder meeting.
At the 44th annual general meeting on March 31, KT plans to process the agenda item to appoint Park as an inside director. Park is a career KT executive who has spent more than 30 years at the company since joining Korea Telecom in 1992. His deep understanding of the organization has raised expectations that he can establish a stable management structure immediately after taking office. In particular, having led B2B-based new businesses and pursued a comprehensive strategy encompassing cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and internet data centers (IDC), many expect him to accelerate KT's AI business expansion initiatives.
According to industry sources, Park plans to carry out executive personnel changes and organizational restructuring immediately after the shareholder meeting. Park reportedly formed a task force to review personnel selections shortly after being named as the CEO candidate. Amid discussions of reducing approximately 30% of all executives since last week, about 20 executives have been notified of their departure, and Chief Technology Officer Oh Seung-pil has also reportedly expressed his intention to resign. Oh led AI strategy under former CEO Kim Young-sub's leadership. In addition, approximately 30 of the 94 unregistered executives as of the end of last year are expected to be replaced.
KT's unregistered executive count stood at 68 in 2008 but grew to 117 by 2018. Former CEO Kim Young-sub cut the number by 20% when he took office in 2023, but added 20 more the following year, bringing the current total to around 100. Industry observers expect Park to pursue a sweeping personnel overhaul by reducing the number of executives and streamlining the organization.
Meanwhile, CEO appointments for major listed subsidiaries including KT Genie Music, KT Skylife, KT Alpha and Nasmedia have been finalized. KTis, KTcs, Millie's Library and K Bank also plan to hold annual general meetings to process inside director appointment agenda items.