Former Minister and Tax Chief Join Kakao AI's First Board

[Financial News] Kakao AI, the new company that will be spun off from Kakao Corp. to focus on artificial intelligence and KakaoTalk, has unveiled the outline of its first board. Kakao Corp. CEO Shina Chung will serve as an inside director, while the company has brought in former Science and ICT Minister Lim Hye-sook, former National Tax Service Commissioner Kim Dae-ji, and former KT Corporation Chief Technology Officer Phil Oh as outside directors. The lineup also includes experts in policy, finance, and taxation, underscoring the new company's push to establish an independent management structure.
According to the Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART) on the 25th, the board of Kakao AI will have seven members in total, including inside and outside directors. Inside directors include CEO Chung and Chief Financial Officer Shin Jong-hwan. Shin Jung-hwan, a venture partner at Altos Ventures and a former Kakao CTO, has been nominated as a non-executive director.
There will be four outside directors. They are former Science and ICT Minister Lim Hye-sook, former National Tax Service Commissioner Kim Dae-ji, former KT CTO Phil Oh, and Kim Yeong Jun, a professor at Korea University Professional Graduate School of Technology Management.
Lim served as science and ICT minister from 2021 to 2022. Kim led the National Tax Service from 2020 to 2022 and is currently an adviser at BnH Tax Corporation. Oh worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Microsoft before being appointed KT CTO in late 2023. He stepped down from the post in March. Kim was appointed as an independent director at Kakao in March and currently chairs the ESG committee.
The board composition is seen as reflecting the nature of the businesses Kakao AI will take on. Chung and CFO Shin Jong-hwan will handle management, while the former CTO and the technology management expert will support the AI and technology sectors. The addition of the former science and ICT minister and the former tax chief also strengthens expertise in AI policy, regulation, finance, and taxation.
In particular, Chung's participation as an inside director at Kakao AI suggests she will directly oversee the core businesses centered on KakaoTalk and AI even after the spin-off. Kakao announced on the 21st that it plans to split into a business company, Kakao AI, which will handle KakaoTalk and AI operations, and KakaoX, which will manage affiliate investments and operations.
At the time, Kakao also said during a briefing that it would form the Kakao AI board with AI experts and information technology policy specialists.
The spin-off will be finalized at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on Dec. 17. If approved, Kakao AI and KakaoX will officially launch on Jan. 1 next year, and the board of Kakao AI will also be finalized through the extraordinary meeting.



[email protected] Juwon Gyu Reporter