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Kakao exec accused of making employees work desk at his child's wedding

Published: 13 Nov. 2025, 17:10

Kakao’s Pangyo office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, in March 2023. [YONHAP]

A senior executive at Kakao is facing internal backlash after allegations surfaced that employees staffed the reception desk and collected cash gifts at the executive’s child’s wedding earlier this month.

The employees involved say they volunteered due to circumstances that arose on the day of the ceremony. But many inside the company argue that the episode contradicts Kakao’s longstanding reputation for a horizontal workplace culture.

According to Kakao and industry officials, the executive — a senior member of the company’s Corporate Alignment (CA) council, which coordinates interests among Kakao’s 13 affiliates — held the wedding at a Seoul hotel in early November. It later emerged that employees from the council sat at the reception desk to receive congratulatory envelopes.

“Even before the wedding, there were rumors that they were looking for people to sit at the reception desk, and it turned out that employees actually went and collected cash gifts,” a Kakao employee familiar with the situation said, adding “Having staff sit at the reception desk for a senior executive’s child’s wedding damages Kakao’s values and image.”

“People are outraged, questioning whether outdated hierarchical culture is creeping into Kakao, a company known for its free workplace environment,” the employee continued, and noted that “the shock is greater because this happened at the wedding of a senior CA council member, who oversees coordination among group affiliates.”

The allegations first surfaced on the anonymous workplace app Blind under a post titled, “Is it okay to make employees work at your daughter’s wedding?”

“A wedding is a family event — why are employees being made to work there? Even large conglomerates don’t do that any more,’ the poster wrote.

The KakaoTalk online chat app [YONHAP]

More than 70 comments were posted in response, including reactions such as “If it was forced, that’s a serious problem,” “The very act of asking is the problem” and “Isn’t this the textbook definition of workplace harassment according to the Labor Ministry?”

The CA council serves as Kakao’s control tower, resolving issues among 13 affiliates. The executive in question oversees legal and audit affairs and previously worked as a prosecutor, a legal team leader at a major conglomerate and a lawyer at a large law firm before joining Kakao in May 2024.

As internal anger grew, Kakao began reviewing the facts and considering issuing an internal notice clarifying the executive’s position. “There was no prior request for employees to collect cash gifts,” a Kakao official said. “Due to circumstances on the day, employees who attended as guests voluntarily took on the role.”

The official added that the executive “did not want to burden employees, so the wedding schedule was not announced within the company, and only a few from certain departments attended as guests.”

The executive “expressed gratitude to the staff who helped at the reception desk, and none of them felt displeased or uncomfortable,” the official said, noting that the company is verifying details as the issue continues to circulate internally.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SON SUNG-BAE [[email protected]]