KEPCO names ex-vice minister as new CEO

Cho Hwan-eik

KEPCO, the state-run power distributor, named former Vice Knowledge Economy Minister Cho Hwan-eik as its new CEO in its shareholders’ meeting in Seoul on Monday.

The top priority for KEPCO’s new CEO Cho will be to control power demand and supply during the wintertime, industry sources said.

KEPCO seems to have selected Cho to more effectively push for KEPCO’s drive to business expansion overseas, the sources said. Cho once led the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

He also served as a senior official at the ministry in charge of energy policies.

His two predecessors are CEOs from private companies. The two predecessors stepped down before the end of their tenure allegedly due to conflicts with the ministry in the course of changing the electricity pricing policy and organizational restructuring.

By Seo Jee-yeon (jyseo@heraldcorp.com)