Aekyung Group makes executive appointments

Kim Jae-chun

Song Byung-ho

Aekyung Group, a retail and budget airline operator, appointed new heads of its affiliates AK Plaza, AK Developments and AK Leisure on Monday.

Kim Jae-chun, vice president of Jeju Air, was tapped as the chief executive of AK Plaza, the shopping mall brand.
Song Byung-ho, who headed hotel business at Jeju Air, was promoted to CEO of two resort-related units, AK Developments and AK Leisure.

The group cited Kim’s communication skills and his experience at the budget carrier.

“[Aekyung] will put forward a horizontal communication culture through this year’s reshuffle and an innovative business model by incorporating a successful business strategy used at Jeju Air into AK Plaza,” the group said in a statement.

AK Plaza posted a net loss of 33.5 billion won ($30.2 million) in the third quarter as more shoppers avoided going to malls in the pandemic era.

It went into the red after posting a 3.4 billion won in net profit during the same period last year.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]