KT CEO will not stay on following pressure from shareholder

KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo speaks at the company's office in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on Jan. 2. [KT]

KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo will not run for the second term.

As he has withdrawn his name from consideration by the board for the CEO position, Ku will step down from his post in March after the annual shareholder meeting.

The CEO candidate search process will proceed as planned.

Ku was initially selected as the final candidate for the CEO post, first on Dec. 16 and again on Dec. 28, after the candidacy was reopened at Ku’s request citing “a major shareholder’s concern about the governance structure of companies with dispersed ownership,” according to KT.

With dispersed ownership, a company has no single investor with a controlling share of the entity.

The candidacy was reopened again in February, as the National Pension Service (NPS), the largest shareholder of KT, voiced opposition to the telecom company’s decision to select Ku as the final and only candidate for the post in December.

The NPS holds 9.95 percent of KT and was the largest shareholder as of Jan. 18.

On Dec. 28, NPS Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Seo Won-joo said in a statement “our stance is that the decision is not compliant with the basic principle that CEO candidate appointment should take place through a transparent and fair process.”

President Yoon Suk Yeol also said on Jan. 30 that “a stewardship code should be adopted at companies with dispersed ownership.”

On Monday, KT said that a total of 34 candidates — 18 external applicants and 16 internal candidates, including Ku — will compete for the top post, but with Ku’s resignation, the number went down to 33.

Ku will attend the MWC 2023 as planned, which is slated to start on Feb. 27 in Barcelona, Spain.

Ku joined KT in 1987 as a researcher at the economics research center within the company and was appointed as the CEO in 2020.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]