KT gets closer to open recruitment of its CEO

Telecom giant KT said Wednesday it has finished accepting applications for the company’s next chairman and CEO, who will replace Hwang Chang-gyu.

In July, KT’s board said it would accept applications for its top spot in an open recruitment process.

The company said its own board agreed not to recommend any applicants to increase the transparency of the process.

KT received 37 applications, including nine from professional organizations, 21 from outside KT and seven from within.

None of the applicants have been named but Koo Hyun-moo, head of KT’s customer and media division, Oh Sung-mok, chief of KT’s network business division, and Lee Dong-myun, head of the future platform business division, are believed to be three of the internal candidates.

Seoul Metro CEO Kim Tae-ho and Lee Sang-hoon, a former head of KT’s enterprise customer group, are considered former KT employees that are in the running.

The company’s next CEO will be appointed at KT’s next general shareholders’ meeting scheduled for March.

Whether KT will break a 10-year custom of offering the position to someone from outside the company is a big question.

KT was privatized in 2002. Since 2009, when Lee Suk-chae became KT chairman, the position has been given to outsiders.

Lee, who served as KT chairman until 2013, was sentenced to one year in prison by the Seoul Southern District Court last week for ordering the illegal hiring of applicants with ties to powerful figures.

Hwang last month was questioned by police over an allegation that he hired management advisers for lobbying purposes.

BY JIN MIN-JI, PARK TAE-HEE [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]