South Korea's three mobile carriers are entering the season of annual shareholder meetings. LG Uplus, SK Telecom and KT will hold meetings in sequence to discuss a new management structure, board reshuffles and strategies for new businesses.

The companies will hold their meetings on March 24 for LG Uplus, March 26 for SK Telecom and March 31 for KT, the industry said on March 22. Each company will confirm a new leadership structure alongside new business strategies aimed at strengthening artificial intelligence (AI) competitiveness.

KT to launch Park Yoon-young leadership, governance reshuffle also on agenda

KT is expected to see the biggest change. KT plans to formally appoint chief executive nominee Park Yoon-young (박윤영) at its March 31 meeting and launch a new management structure. With major personnel moves effectively on hold, the industry expects the appointment to accelerate affiliate businesses as well.

Park, a former head of KT's enterprise division, is viewed as a "KT man" who knows internal conditions well, making him a candidate seen as suited to push both organisational stabilisation and new business expansion. During his time at KT, Park led business-to-business (B2B) and digital transformation (DX) initiatives and built major business drivers. With the company currently focusing on its enterprise AI operating system "Agentic Fabric" and its physical AI robot platform "K RaaS," attention is on whether his appointment will provide momentum to secure new growth engines.

KT's board structure will also change. Kwon Myung-sook (권명숙), former president of Intel Korea, along with Kim Young-han (김영한), a professor in the School of Electronic and Information Engineering at Soongsil University, and Seo Jin-seok (서진석), former chief executive of EY Hanyoung, will join as new outside directors. With big tech executives, 6G experts and accounting specialists joining the board, the company is expected to see changes in technology development and management direction.

KT will also discuss governance-related bylaw changes at the meeting, including renaming outside directors as "independent directors," expanding directors' duty of loyalty, introducing electronic shareholder meetings and separately appointing audit committee members.

SKT and LG Uplus seek 'change within stability', focus on AI strategy

SK Telecom and LG Uplus are seeking strategic change within a relatively stable trajectory compared with KT.

SK Telecom will appoint CEO Jae-heon Jeong (정재헌) as an inside director, formalising a leadership structure under Jeong. It will also appoint Myung-jin Han (한명진), head of the MNO CIC, and Poong-young Yoon (윤풍영), head responsible for the SUPEX Pursuit Council, as new inside directors. The appointment of outside directors is also on the agenda. Sung-yeob Lee (이성엽), a professor at Korea University's Graduate School of Management of Technology, and Tae-seop Lim (임태섭), a professor at Sungkyunkwan University's GSB, will be appointed as new outside directors. Hye-yeon Oh (오혜연), a professor in KAIST's School of Computing, will be reappointed.

The industry views SK Telecom's board reshuffle as a foundation to recover from the fallout of a security incident last year and strengthen its AI business. That is because many of the directors to be appointed at the meeting are AI and security experts, including Jeong, a former presiding judge, Oh, head of the global cooperation subcommittee at the National AI Strategy Committee, and Lee, a civilian chair of the Personal Information Regulation Review Committee under the Personal Information Protection Commission.

SK Telecom has set a goal of "one person, one AI agent," under which all employees build task-specific AI, to accelerate company-wide AI transformation. The industry commonly analyses that the company will further strengthen its AI drive after the shareholder meeting.

LG Uplus will also pursue changes to its board composition alongside revisions to its business strategy. At the meeting, it will reappoint CFO Myung-hee Yeo (여명희) as an inside director and Yoon-mi Um (엄윤미), a director at the Asan Nanum Foundation, as an outside director. It will appoint Sang-woo Lee (이상우), head of LG's management strategy division, as an other non-executive director and bring in accounting specialist Min-seop Song (송민섭), a professor in Sogang University's business school, as a new outside director.

LG Uplus will also add work related to "data center design, operation and build (DBO)" to its corporate purpose in its articles of incorporation. It is seeking new revenue sources in data centre businesses in addition to its core telecommunications business. LG Uplus plans to expand its DBO business around its Paju data centre, scheduled for completion in 2027, to create new growth engines.

The industry expects this year's shareholder meetings at the three carriers to serve as a turning point that determines future direction beyond an annual event. An industry official said, "KT is facing the biggest change as a CEO replacement and a board reshuffle proceed at the same time," adding, "Depending on the results of subsequent affiliate shareholder meetings, it will be possible to gauge the future overall business direction."

Another industry official said, "This shareholder meeting is an occasion for the three carriers to overhaul governance to transform into AI companies," adding, "In particular, it seems the success or failure of KT's governance reshuffle will influence the future business landscape."