Kakao executives meet with outside committee to discuss fixing company

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Kakao executives meet with outside committee to discuss fixing company

Published: 06 Feb. 2024, 17:04 Updated: 06 Feb. 2024, 18:50

LEE JAE-LIM
[email protected]

Kakao CEO designate Chung Shin-a, third from left, and Kakao Compliance and Trust Committee head Kim So-young, fourth from left, pose with other members photo after an official meeting about Kakao's management issues on Friday. [KAKAO]

Kakao's external committee members met with the tech giant's management, including CEO-designate Chung Shin-a, for the first time on Tuesday.

The committee members, including the head and former Supreme Court Justice Kim So-young, also met with Chung, Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Gung-seon and Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun on Friday. The meeting was a venue for the committee to learn about Kakao subsidiaries' management procedures and discuss ways to strengthen internal controls.

The body, dubbed the Compliance and Trust Committee, was established in November to monitor management decisions made by Kakao subsidiaries after the company was implicated in an array of scandals including stock manipulation.

“Kakao plans to address the challenges it faces one by one from a fresh perspective, strengthening responsible management,” Chung said. “The company plans to seek advice from outside experts to restore societal trust and communicate effectively.”

Kakao also revealed a website dedicated to updating activities and news related to the committee.

The home page currently introduces the committee's mission and members and includes press statements. There's a separate section for anonymous tips related to Kakao's six subsidiaries — Kakao, Kakao Games, Kakao Bank, Kakao Mobility, Kakao Pay and Kakao Entertainment.

The informant's personal information will not be exposed without their consent, the committee said, and subsidiaries cannot attempt to uncover the person’s identity or disadvantage them, per their contract with the committee.

“The activities of the Compliance and Trust Committee may sometimes be uncomfortable and painful,” the committee head, Kim So-young, said in the website’s introduction. “However, I am confident that at the end of that road there will be a transformed Kakao, if we do not give up during the process.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]