Naver founder returns as board chief amid push for sovereign AI leadership

Naver founder Lee Hae-jin is returning to chair the board, signaling a renewed push in the company's core AI strategy.

Naver's founder Lee Hae-jin speaks to reporters on the sidelines of the annual general shareholder meeting held in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, on March 26. [NAVER]

Lee Hae-jin, the founder of the dominant Korean search engine Naver, was reinstated as the board chair on Wednesday, signaling a renewed push in the company's core AI business strategy.

Lee's appointment was confirmed at the company's annual general shareholder meeting held in Seongnam, south of Seoul. Lee, who has been serving as the company's global investment officer (GIO), will oversee Naver's overarching business strategies.

He previously stepped down as board chair in March 2017 and left the board entirely in 2018 to focus on expanding Naver's global footprint in his role as GIO.

His return comes amid growing concerns that Korea is falling behind global tech giants in the fast-evolving space of AI model development.

Naver is expected to bolster the development of HyperClova X, the company's proprietary large language model (LLM) first introduced in 2023. The company aims to integrate AI across key services, including search and commerce platforms, to enhance its existing ecosystem.

"I think it's incredibly unfortunate for the entire world to rely on just one or two search engines or AI platforms. To preserve the diversity of the internet, we need a wide range of search engines and services," Lee told reporters after the shareholder meeting.

Choi Soo-yeon, the CEO of Naver who has been reappointed as company chief, said, "AI should not be a stand-alone service but must be naturally embedded into our core businesses, such as search, advertising, commerce and content."

Despite HyperClova X's strengths as a Korean language-focused model, its limitations pose challenges in directly competing with models from global tech giants, such as Google and Meta.

This has prompted speculation that Naver may seek strategic AI partnerships rather than rely solely on internal development.

"We are open to collaboration with global Big Tech firms and various external LLMs, and such discussions are ongoing," Choi said in February.

"Lee's return to the board, much like Google founder Larry Page's return to the CEO position in 2011, signals a commitment to transformative change," an internet industry observer said, adding, "Korea's tech firms have fallen significantly behind in AI, and Lee's return to the board reflects a sense of urgency."

On the same day, the CEO of Kakao, the operator behind the nation's messenger service, drew the line regarding rumors that the company is considering selling its portal business.

Earlier this month, Kakao announced plans to spin off its portal business in the first half of the year, aiming to recapture its declining share in the domestic search engine market — a move some interpret as preparation for a potential divestment of the struggling unit.

"Kakao does not have plans to sell [the portal site] Daum after the spinoff as of now," Chung Shin-a told the reporters after the company's general shareholder meeting ended at Kakao's Jeju office.

"We believe that Daum has strong potential to operate as an independent portal business," she said. "As long as it remains within Kakao, we determined that structural growth would be difficult. That's why we felt it was important to create an independent management structure and an environment that allows for autonomous experimentation — which we believe will help increase our current user base."

BY LEE JAE-LIM, YONHAP [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]