Naver implements first 2024 organizational changes

Yoo Bong-seok

South Korean tech giant Naver Corp. has created a new position of president of policy and risk management (RM) and promoted Yoo Bong-seok, vice president in charge of service operations, to the position. The tech giant also appointed Kim Bom-jun, former chief executive officer of Woowa Brothers Corp., as its new chief operating officer (COO).

Naver announced its first organizational changes of 2024 with these changes on Thursday. “Yoo Bong-seok, president of Policy and RM, will be in charge of external policies such as PR, government affairs, legal affairs, and personal information,” the company said, explaining that Yoo will oversee company policies and risk management from an integrated perspective. The company added that Kim Bom-jun, the new COO, will start his role as part of Team Naver, focusing on overall company functions and business organizations.

Yoo graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in economics and completed his master’s degree at the same university. He also completed an MBA program at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom as a scholarship recipient from the country’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. He also worked as a journalist for Maeil Business Newspaper for more than a decade, covering retail, information technology, industry, securities, and politics, before serving as head of the media center and head of service operations at Naver.

With the reorganization, Naver’s management team has been expanded, including Choi Soo-yeon, CEO; Chae Seon-ju, president of ESG and external policy; Yoo, president of policy and RM; Kim Nam-sun, chief financial officer (CFO) and Kim, COO, among others.

Additionally, Naver has established the ‘Future AI Center,’ an AI research and policy organization, directly under the CEO’s supervision, to prepare for the artificial intelligence (AI) era. Ha Jung-woo, head of the Naver Cloud AI Innovation Center, will concurrently head the center.

Naver has also changed the organization related to news services to be under the direct supervision of the CEO, with Yoo previously in charge. The move is seen as a response to recent challenges including algorithm fairness controversies and AI learning copyright concerns ahead of the upcoming general elections, with the CEO taking a more direct role in addressing these issues.