Korea's second-largest telco KT Corp has named Park Yoon-young as its new CEO this week.

Park's appointment was confirmed at the company's shareholders meeting yesterday (March 31) as part of an organizational restructure and executive reshuffle.

As reported by The Korea Times, the reshuffle aims to bolster KT's core telecoms business and ramp up its growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and artificial transformation (AX).

The reshuffle will focus on introducing younger executives as the AI era takes shape, while execs noted at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) that KT is integrating its R&D unit with its new AX division to focus on AI development. Beyond this, a newly created IT division will oversee platform operations and infrastructure modernization.

Park has been at the company since 1992, joining when the carrier was known as Korea Telecom. During his three decades at the telco, he's held several roles, including head of the future business division and head of the Convergence Research Division.

His appointment ends KT Corp's search for a CEO after former CEO Kim Young-seop offered his resignation following a major cybersecurity breach last year.

Park's appointment also comes at a time when the carrier is set to overhaul its executives. Korea Times reports that this overhaul will see a 30 percent cut in executive-level officials and a full replacement of key department heads, as part of plans to rebuild trust following the cyber breach, streamline management, and boost operational agility.

Park reiterated that the company's AI push will be the core driver of KT’s next phase.

“AI transformation is rapidly changing the order of industries and the very way companies exist,” said Park. “We will develop KT into a national key telecommunications operator responsible for the present and future of Korea’s network, and into an AI platform company leading the AI era.”

He added that KT won't compromise on investments in network infrastructure, service quality, and cybersecurity, as the carrier wants to push its AX platform company.