The Board of Directors of Kangwon Land, the only casino in South Korea at which locals are permitted to gamble, is said to have begun interviewing candidates to become the resort’s new permanent CEO – filling a position that has stayed vacant for well over two years.
Local media outlet The Asia Business Daily is reporting that interviews of candidates were conducted on 4 and 5 June after a larger pool of candidates was recently narrowed down.
Kangwon Land has not named a permanent CEO since Lee Sam-Geol stepped down in December 2023, appointing in his place a series of Interim CEOs instead. In March of this year, Nam Han-gyu was named as the company’s latest Interim CEO following the resignation of Choi Cheol-gyu. It is now 30 months since Lee’s departure.
For a permanent CEO to be appointed, a candidate must first be selected by the Kangwon Land board, after which the candidate must be reviewed and approved by the Public Institution Management Committee of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, given the green light by shareholders meeting, officially nominated by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy and, finally, appointed by the President.
According to The Asia Business Daily, there are also concerns among employees and locals that a former army general and current politician from the ruling party is set to be named as Kangwon Land’s next President. The worry, it states, is that the person in question has no experience of the casino and tourism industries – an important consideration given that Kangwon Land was developed for the specific purpose of revitalizing the economy of the region, a former mining hub.
This has led to the Kangwon Land labor union recently issuing a statement describing the alleged appointment as a “parachute appointment.” It stated, “What Kangwon Land needs now is not a figure from the military or a politically-motivated parachute appointee, but a true business expert who fully understands the casino and tourism industries and has the ability to communicate on the ground.
“If the government pushes ahead with the appointment of a parachute appointee, we will do everything in our power to block their entry to work and launch an all-out struggle to stop it.”
The Asia Business Daily report notes that there are lingering concerns around Kangwon Land’s slow rate of growth and the threat posed by the impending launch of MGM Osaka in Japan in 2030 – a US$10 billion project that could attract many Korean players.
In response to this threat, Kangwon Land has unveiled plans for a massive US$1.9 billion expansion that is to incorporate a renovation of existing facilities and development of new offerings, including a new luxury casino, a hotel and additional leisure facilities.
Kangwon Land also received approval last year from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to raise the minimum bet limits on some blackjack and Texas Hold’em Poker tables and launched a “foreigner-only casino zone” aimed at enhancing its attractiveness globally by offering dedicated gaming tables and staff who can speak various foreign languages.
In 2024 the company unveiled a Value-up Plan which aims to enhance shareholder value and investment appeal via the introduction of various targets such as achieving a 60% total shareholder payout ratio, a PBR (Price-to-book ratio) of 1.2x and 100% compliance with “Key Indicators of Corporate Governance” through focused improvements in the protection of minority shareholder rights and interests.
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