At the Age of 54
NXC said on March 1 that director Kim Jung-ju died in late February in the United States at the age of 54. Kim was being treated for depression, and recently his condition had deteriorated.
Kim entered the game business in 1996 by founding Nexon Corp., a game developer, with Song Jae-kyung (currently the CEO of XL Games), one of his university alumni. Kim made such hit games as “Crazy Arcade,” “MapleStory,” “KartRider” and “Mabinogi,” and listed Nexon on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2011.
Kim tried to sell his stake in NXC, the holding company of Nexon Group, for about 10 trillion won, but failed due to differences in stock price valuations.
After the failed stake sale, Kim promoted new businesses while driving the growth of the game business. He stepped down as head of NXC in July 2021 and has since served as an inside director.