Three finalists under background checks include former Korea Electric Power Corporation executive vice president
The search for a successor to Korea Electric Power Corporation President Kim Dong-cheol has narrowed to a contest between two politicians — a former South Jeolla Province governor and a former lawmaker — raising concerns that the state utility, like Korea Gas Corporation before it, will be handed to a political figure with limited hands-on expertise in the pressing challenges facing the power sector.
According to energy industry and political sources Wednesday, Korea Electric Power Corporation's executive recommendation committee has whittled the final candidate pool for the next president down to three: former South Jeolla Province Governor Kim Young-rok, former Assembly member Oh Young-sik — who also served as chief of staff to Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum — and Lee Jong-hwan, a former executive vice president who oversaw business operations at the utility.
Nineteen people applied before last month's deadline for the Korea Electric Power Corporation presidential search. Jeong Jae-hoon, the former president of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power who had been widely mentioned as a potential candidate, did not make the final three.
Korea Electric Power Corporation posted the vacancy notice on Aug. 6 and accepted applications through Aug. 14, after which the executive recommendation committee narrowed the field and forwarded the finalists to the Public Institution Management Committee under the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Once that committee selects a final candidate, the appointment process will be nearly complete. The chosen candidate will be formally appointed by the president following a nomination by the minister of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment.
Political circles widely believe Kim Young-rok has effectively been designated as the next Korea Electric Power Corporation president. A graduate of the 21st class of the higher civil service examination, Kim is seen as an asset because of his administrative experience in the region where the utility's headquarters is located. He served as the inaugural minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs under the Moon Jae-in administration and, as South Jeolla Province governor, championed renewable energy expansion and the development of the Honam semiconductor cluster.
Oh Young-sik served as a progressive-bloc lawmaker in the 17th and 19th National Assemblies and was president of Korail (Korea Railroad Corporation) from February to December 2018. He later served as chief of staff to then-Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum in 2021. Oh stepped down early from the Korail post to take responsibility for a KTX-Sancheon derailment in Gangneung in December 2018. Political sources say he is now mounting an all-out last-ditch effort to overturn Kim Young-rok's apparent designation.
Lee Jong-hwan retired in February 2023 after 35 years at Korea Electric Power Corporation and subsequently joined Sungkyunkwan University's College of Information and Communication as a visiting professor. During his tenure at the utility, he held a series of operational roles — including head of IT operations, head of distribution operations, Ulsan branch chief under the Busan-Ulsan regional headquarters, head of power operations for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and head of new business development — accumulating broad experience across the power sector.
Given that the current government has repeatedly tapped political figures to lead state energy companies, industry observers inside and outside the sector believe Kim Young-rok — whose name has circulated as the frontrunner since before the search opened — is likely to take the post barring any major development.
Yet calls for expertise to take precedence over political considerations are louder than ever in the case of the Korea Electric Power Corporation presidency. With three simultaneous challenges on the table — integrating state power generation companies, supplying electricity to mega-projects, and stabilizing the grid — industry voices argue that practical, working-level knowledge of the issues is as important as organizational management experience, and that there is no time for a learning curve.
Korea Electric Power Corporation faces the substantial task of investing 72.8 trillion won ($53.1 billion) in transmission and substation infrastructure by 2038 under the 11th Long-Term Transmission and Substation Facility Plan. The next president will also need to serve as a bridge, navigating permitting procedures and securing community acceptance along the way.
The utility must simultaneously manage a surge in electricity demand driven by three major mega-projects and contribute to a clean-energy transition toward carbon neutrality, all while preparing for a large-scale organizational restructuring that includes the merger of five state power generation companies. On top of all that, the incoming president will need to chip away at the company's debt load of more than 210 trillion won.
In the typical state enterprise appointment process, political candidates are seen as an asset for their ability to push government policy forward at speed. But given the scale of the challenges piling up in the energy sector, industry observers say a candidate with genuine technical expertise deserves serious consideration.
Current President Kim Dong-cheol's term runs through Sept. 19, and he is expected to remain in the role until a successor is named. Given that the appointment process typically takes two to three months, the new president will likely take office in late September or early October.
"If the wrong calls are made on grid investment, tariff structures or system operations — decisions that are both technical and financial — the consequences hit industry as a whole and people's daily lives directly," an energy industry official said. "This is a moment when we need someone with both the ability to execute and the expertise to back it up more than ever before."
oskymoon@heraldcorp.com
