Yun Kyung-rim, a former president once mentioned as a leading candidate for KT's next chief executive officer, has reinvented himself as a Start - Up founder.
Speaking with ChosunBiz on the 1st, Yun said, "I did not apply for this round of KT's next CEO candidate search," adding, "for the time being, I will focus on the company I founded and on supporting young people's venture startups."
In Mar. 2023, Yun was chosen by the KT board as the sole finalist for the next CEO. With only the shareholders' meeting vote left, political interference became a controversy, and about 20 days later he stepped down as a candidate, a moment that has remained symbolic of the debate over KT's governance.
The field Yun is pursuing is "artificial intelligence (AI) legal tech." In Nov. 2024, he founded A2D2, a legal tech company. A2D2 had been known externally only as "a legal tech Start - Up founded by AI-experienced executives." Yun serves as chair of the board and had not publicly mentioned the fact of the founding.
A2D2 is developing a service that digitizes the vast analog legal data produced during trials—such as filings, judgments, and evidence—using AI, and then classifies and summarizes it. The goal is to reduce the burden on attorneys of reviewing records that run to tens of thousands of pages and to help them focus more on strategy by having AI automatically structure documents.
The startup idea began with a criminal trial experience. Yun said, "While personally leafing through records and evidence documents amounting to tens of thousands of pages during the investigation and trial, I began to wonder, 'Why isn't there a service that automatically processes this massive analog data?'" He added, "the idea of enabling those without money or power to receive an equal trial through an efficient service using AI led to the founding."
Yun remains on trial after becoming entangled in litigation due to the fallout from the KT CEO selection process. Right after Yun was confirmed as KT's sole CEO finalist in Mar. 2023, prosecutors opened an investigation.
A2D2 is advancing its technology by applying its AI document analysis service to real cases in collaboration with major law firms, including Yoon & Yang LLC. It also plans to showcase its service at the "2025 Korea legal industry expo," to be held on the 3rd of this month at the aT Center in Yangjae, Seoul.