Top tech chiefs summoned to Korea’s parliamentary audit

South Korea’s National Assembly is slated to summon the heads of domestic and foreign information and communication technology companies during this year’s parliamentary audit that is scheduled to kick off on Oct. 10.

The National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on Tuesday confirmed a list of 26 figures to be summoned to testify at the committee’s audit this month.

Included in the list are chiefs of Korea’s top internet companies, including Naver founder and Global Investment Officer Lee Hae-jin and Kakao founder and Chairman Kim Beom-su.

Lee made a rare appearance at last year’s parliamentary audit to testify for the company following confirmation the portal had manipulated news on its site, igniting public outrage.

If present again this year, the Naver founder is expected to be questioned over its responsibility in a high-profile online opinion-rigging scandal that involved the manipulation of Naver’s news display system, as well as on the portal’s uncontested monopoly over the country’s web advertisement market.

The Kakao chairman did not appear at the parliamentary audit last year, citing his obligation to business meetings abroad. Kakao has yet to confirm whether its chief will appear at the hearing this year.

Also summoned by the National Assembly committee are the heads of the Korean units of foreign tech giants including Google Korea CEO John Lee, Facebook Korea CEO Damian Yeo Guan Yao and Apple Korea General Manager Brandon Yoon.

They are slated to be questioned on continued complaints of “reverse discrimination” that assert that foreign internet companies here are not bound by the same laws that apply to competing Korean firms.

In addition, the chiefs of Korea’s three main mobile carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus have been summoned by the committee, alongside Samsung Electronics mobile business CEO Koh Dong-jin and LG Electronics CEO Jo Seong-jin.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)