KT shareholders attended a general meeting held at the KT R&D Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul on Tuesday. Courtesy of KT
KT appointed Park Yoon-young as its new CEO at its general meeting of shareholders on Tuesday, and announced significant organizational restructuring and executive changes aimed at strengthening its core telecommunications business and accelerating the growth of its artificial intelligence (AI) transformation (AX).
The overhaul includes a 30% reduction in executive-level staff and complete replacement of key department heads, as the company aims to rebuild trust, streamline operations and increase operational agility.
In particular, the company announced the appointment of young, performance-oriented leaders in the BtoB, AX, and AI departments, and two new vice presidents were appointed as vice presidents. Former KT Engineering CEO Kim Bong-gyun has been appointed to oversee the enterprise division, and former IT platform senior director Ok Kyung-hwa has been appointed to lead the entire IT division.
The company will also reorganize its R&D department into an AX-focused organization to focus on AI development, and a newly created IT department will oversee platform operations and infrastructure modernization.
The new AX Business Division, which will focus on BtoB and AX businesses, will centralize functions such as strategy, technology development, partnerships, and service expansion that were previously dispersed across each business division, and will operate under a unified leadership structure.
To enhance service quality and decision-making in the field, the company has reorganized its seven regional business units into four broader regional headquarters that work directly with its business-to-consumer, B2B, and network departments.
Mr. Park, who joined KT’s predecessor Korea Telecom in 1992, has spent more than 30 years with the company, gaining extensive experience across business and technology sectors through key positions such as Head of Future Business and Head of Convergence Research.
Park Yoon-young, who was appointed as the new CEO of KT / Provided by: KT
“CEO Park’s (AX) expertise, growth strategies, and efforts to improve corporate value are expected to drive KT’s future growth,” the company said.
After his appointment was approved at a shareholders’ meeting in Seoul’s Seocho district, Park sent a message to employees, pledging to act quickly to reposition KT for the AI era.
“I want to show it not with words or form, but with speed and execution,” he said.
“The environment surrounding our core communications business is becoming increasingly challenging, and our responsibility for security, networks and quality has never been greater.”
The new CEO emphasized that AI is a core driver of KT’s next phase and pointed to this year as the starting point for that transition.
“The AI revolution is rapidly changing the industry order and the very way companies exist,” he said. “We will grow KT into a national backbone carrier that will support the present and future of the Korean network, and an AI platform company that will lead the AI era.”
To drive its transformation into an AX platform company, Park laid out strong fundamentals and clear growth as the two pillars of its strategy, emphasizing that the company will not compromise on investments in network infrastructure, quality of service, and cybersecurity.
He also talked about future technologies, saying, “We will actively prepare for and lead in future technologies such as 6G, satellites, AI radio access networks, and quantum security.”
At this meeting, the company appointed KT Millie Seojae CEO Park Hyun-jin as an internal director, as well as three new outside directors.
