KT CEO Kim Young-shub told the board he would not seek reappointment when his term ends next March, with a special committee set up to select a replacement as the operator moves to rebuild confidence following a major data breach in September.

The committee composed of eight outside directors was given a deadline of 16 November to recruit candidates, with a final candidate expected to be selected by the end of the year.

Kim last month told a National Assembly committee “it is only right to take appropriate responsibility for the personal information leak and small payment damages caused by the recent KT incident”, The Chosun Daily reported.

After the operator disclosed unauthorised mobile payments impacting customers to the Korea Internet and Security Agency, the Ministry of Science and ICT set up a public-private team to investigate the breach.

He joined as CEO in August 2023.

The announcement comes less than a week after rival SK Telecom named Jung Jai-hun, previously chief governance officer, to replace Ryu Young-sang as CEO in the wake of a data breach, which compromised SIM-related information for its entire mobile users base.

KT is the second-largest mobile player in South Korea with 14.9 million subscribers at end-September, behind SK Telecom with 23.1 million, data from GSMA Intelligence showed.