KT Corp Labor Union, Civic Groups Demand Chairman Hwang to Resign

Police raided KT Corp. with a search warrant on February 5 for its illegal political funding allegations. The KT Labor Union and civic organizations are putting pressure on KT Chairman Hwang Chang-kyu to resign.

According to the police, KT set up a slush fund by buying gift cards with its credit cards and turning them into cash and the slush fund has been given to lawmakers by the CR Division of KT. The office of the division located in Seoul was searched by the police that day. The CR Division is an arm of KT that is in charge of its relations with the Blue House, the National Assembly, the Korea Communications Commission, the Korea Fair Trade Commission, the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea, the Ministry of Science and ICT, etc.

Earlier, the chairman’s office was also searched by the police on January 31 along with some other offices. At that time, some executive members were forbidden from leaving South Korea for the same allegations.

Separately, KT’s labor union and civic groups including the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy held a press conference and a rally in front of the Gwanghwamun branch office in the morning on the same day, demanding Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu to resign and be placed under arrest. They said in a press conference, “We need to re-convert KT into a national company by freeing it from management that bows down to power with corporate money and organization. As the first step, we demand Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu to step down as chairman and police to conduct a thorough investigation on executives.

Meanwhile, KT will provide not only general communications network and broadcasting infrastructure but also major ICT facilities and services specialized in wire and radio broadcasting as an official communication partner of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.