KT President Kim Young-seop is facing intense pressure from the political sphere to resign, using the hacking incident and unauthorized small-payment case as a pretext. Kim's term was originally set to run until the shareholders' meeting in March next year, leaving about six months. Under the usual practice, KT must finalize candidates for the next chief executive officer (CEO) at least three months before the incumbent's term ends. The telecommunications industry had expected Kim to declare his intention to seek another term at the end of November this year and jump into the race for the next CEO. However, as political calls for his resignation have erupted, it is expected to be difficult for him to complete his term.
At the Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee hacking incident hearing held at the National Assembly on 24th, criticism toward Kim continued. Calls for his resignation were especially fierce among ruling party lawmakers. Han Min-soo of the Democratic Party of Korea said, "It is shameful in itself that (KT) uses the name national institutional communications network," and added, "Kim, along with all executives involved (in the hacking incident), should resign." Hwang Jeong-a of the Democratic Party of Korea criticized, saying, "KT has repeatedly concealed and downplayed only the scale and timing of the damage," and, "The attitude of not even having the intention to resign (as CEO) is mocking the public."
An aide to a ruling party lawmaker said, "The KT hacking incident is clearly a management failure regardless of the change of administration, and it is questionable not only whether KT can contain it, but also whether it even understands the cause," adding, "Given that its answers about the incident keep changing, there seems to be much it is hiding, and I doubt whether Kim can get the situation under control." The opposition, however, took a different tone. An aide to an opposition lawmaker said, "It is clear KT did wrong in the hacking incident, but it is not something that warrants discussing Kim's resignation."
Separate from the hacking incident, questions are also being raised about the procedures at the time Kim was appointed president. Lee Hoon-gi of the Democratic Party said, "There are also claims that (Kim) came in as a parachute appointee of Kim Keon-hee," raising suspicion. Kim Hyun of the Democratic Party said, "KT has degenerated into a lobbying channel for the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and the administration before that."
In fact, at the National Assembly's audit of state affairs next month, the process of replacing the KT president in Aug. 2023 is expected to be laid bare. Former KT CEO Koo Hyeon-mo, former KT Group head of transformation Yoon Kyung-lim, and outside director of KT Telecop Yoon Jeong-sik, as well as National Pension Service (NPS) CEO Kim Tae-hyun and NPS Chief Investment Officer Seo Won-joo, who voiced concern at the time over Koo's self-renewal, have been summoned to appear.
At the time Kim was appointed KT CEO, some raised claims of a parachute appointment because he is the older brother of Lee Kwan-seop, former senior presidential secretary for state affairs planning, and a high school alumnus, and this appears to signal an effort to verify that. Ultimately, the hacking incident has provided a pretext to question the fairness of Kim's appointment process, and the drive to pressure him to step down early is likely to intensify.
With six months left in Kim's term, some say it will be virtually impossible to conduct normal business if he is dragged into cleanup efforts related to the hacking incident. In fact, on 19th, Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers Choi Min-hee, Kim Hyun, Kim Woo-young, Lee Ju-hee, Lee Hoon-gi, and Lee Jeong-heon of the National Assembly's Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee, along with Lee Hae-min of the Rebuilding Korea Party, visited KT's R&D Headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and received a briefing on the status of consumer damage and the results of measures taken. Present were President Kim Young-seop, as well as Network institutional sector head Seo Chang-seok, Customer institutional sector head Lee Hyun-seok, and CR institutional sector head Kim Kwang-dong. Kim also spent the entire day at a National Assembly hearing on 24th. He has been summoned twice as a witness to the National Assembly's audit of state affairs next month.
A telecommunications industry official said, "He should be focusing on damage control from the hacking, but Kim has to spend his time responding to the National Assembly," adding, "If Kim is effectively unable to get the situation under control, stepping down early could be what is best for the company." In response to the continued pressure to resign at the National Assembly hearing, Kim said, "It is inappropriate to make such (resignation) remarks now."
Some say that given KT's characteristics of being buffeted by political crosswinds whenever administrations changed in the past, moves to replace the CEO were to be expected. In the past, only former Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu kept his post after a change of administration; the other CEOs suffered the ordeal of stepping down.
Ryu Young-jae, CEO of Sustinvest, said, "A telecom company's hacking incident is a serious issue that warrants accountability, but even looking only at SK Telecom's hacking incident, it is not something that would require the (CEO) to step down," adding, "If there is a difference, it is that SK Telecom is a company with an owner, while KT does not have an owner, so it is more influenced by political pressure."
Lee Byeong-tae, an honorary professor at KAIST, said, "Given that there is precedent for even mobilizing regulatory agencies in past administrations to replace the KT CEO, we cannot rule out the possibility of President Kim Young-seop stepping down early depending on the will of the government and the ruling party," adding, "From Kim's standpoint, with six months left in his term, if the pressure grows, he will not cling to the position." He added, "Because KT is a company without an owner, the KT CEO position has (in the past) served as a trophy for administrations."