PPP and Yoon take shots at KT for CEO selection process

KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo delivers a keynote speech on Tuesday at the MWC 2023 held in Barcelona, Spain. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

KT’s CEO race is getting swept into the political debate, as President Yoon Suk Yeol and his People Power Party (PPP) accused the telecom company of scheming to appoint one of its own for the top post.

On Feb. 28, KT shortlisted four final candidates for the CEO position out of 33 initial candidates. Incumbent CEO Ku Hyeon-mo withdrew his name from consideration.

The four final candidates are either former or incumbent executives of KT: Yun Kyoung-lim, president of the Group Transformation division; Shin Soo-jung, senior executive vice president of the Enterprise Business; Park Yoon-young, a former president; and Lim Hun-mun, also a former president.

As all four of the final candidates share background from KT, PPP lawmakers argued that “it is ‘job for the boys.’”

“This is a typical scheme designed to maintain their cartel,” said Rep. Park Sung-joong, representing five PPP lawmakers of the parliamentary science and ICT committee, in a press conference held Thursday at the National Assembly in western Seoul.

The five ICT committee members issued a joint statement that day, criticizing KT for selecting CEO candidates only from its own backyard.

“There are buzzing rumors inside KT that incumbent CEO Ku withdrew from the candidacy after he was put under investigation on allegation of breach of duty, and then put forward Yun Kyoung-lim as his proxy, and Shin Soo-jung as a backup in the shortlist,” said Park.

Ku was put under investigation after KT’s board members including Ku were accused of breach of duty last year.

The allegation was that the KT board of directors did not hold Ku and the company’s top executives even after KT was fined $6.3 million by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on the charges of “providing improper payments for the benefit of government officials in Korea and Vietnam” in February last year.

President Yoon also mentioned on Jan. 30 that “a stewardship code should be adopted at companies with dispersed ownership,” underlining the importance of governance transparency in companies like KT.

“KT can have a significant influence on people’s livelihood, and the governance transparency is especially important for large companies with no owner,” said a source from the presidential office.

Another source from the PPP quoted President Yoon as saying “as KT is a people’s company, the CEO appointment should be in line with people’s standards.”

However, some argue that the president and PPP are trying to steer the company toward candidates favorable to the current administration.

“The fact that only those from KT were selected as final candidates shows the screening process was based on the expertise of the applicants, and not their background or affiliation,” said a KT employee.

Ku was appointed in March 2020 when former President Moon Jae-in was in office.

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.”

The National Pension Service, the largest shareholder, voiced opposition to the telecom company’s decision to select Ku as the final and only candidate for the post in December.

The candidacy was reopened again in February, but Ku ultimately decided not to run for the second term.

The final candidate for the CEO post will be decided by Mar. 7.

BY KIM HYO-SEONG, SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]