Kepco set to appoint former lawmaker Kim Dong-cheol as CEO

A former four-term lawmaker is set to become the new head of Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), the country’s debt-ridden and sole power distributor.

Kim Dong-cheol, a former lawmaker, was nominated as a CEO candidate for the Korea Electric Power Corporation by the government. [YONHAP]

A former four-term lawmaker is set to become the new head of Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), the country’s debt-ridden and sole power distributor.

Kepco’s board of directors on Friday approved an agenda item for a shareholders’ meeting to appoint Kim Dong-cheol, a former lawmaker from the now-defunct minor Bareunmirae Party, as its new CEO.

The decision came after the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy nominated Kim as a candidate for the top post on Thursday.

Kepco will hold a shareholders’ meeting after two weeks of public notice. If approved as the new CEO, Kim will be appointed by President Yoon Suk Yeol upon the energy minister’s recommendation. The new CEO is expected to officially take office as early as mid-September.

Kim, who served four terms, or 16 years, through 2020 as a lawmaker, will be the first politician to be named the Kepco chief since the state-run utility was established in 1961.

He was also a deputy head of a national cohesion committee that was part of Yoon’s presidential transition committee.

Former Kepco CEO Cheong Seung-ilstepped down from his post in May 2023 after lawmakers from Yoon’s People Power Party criticized the company’s stacking debt and alleged moral hazards. The state utility has been run under an emergency management system since then.

Kepco posted an operating loss of 2.27 trillion won ($1.72 billion) for the second quarter, weighed down by fuel price hikes in 2022. Its total deficits since 2021 amount to some 47 trillion won.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]