Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
Kyobo Life Planet's CEO serves another term
Kyobo Life Planet CEO Lee Hak-sang / Courtesy of Kyobo Life Planet
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
Kyobo Life Planet's long-serving CEO Lee Hak-sang has been elected to serve another two years at the internet-only life insurance company.
The company said it held an extraordinary shareholders general meeting earlier this week, voting in favor of granting Lee another two-year term as CEO, which will end in September 2022.
Since the CEO first took the helm of the nation's first online-only insurance company back in December 2013, Lee has maintained his position for the last seven years.
As the first CEO of the first internet-exclusive insurance firm here, Lee is considered to have successfully led an “insurtech” ― the incorporation of technological innovations into traditional insurance business models ― trend in the country, contributing to the expansion of the digital insurance market.
The CEO has also closely partnered with various innovative IT-based platform companies, such as Kakao Pay, Toss and Bank Salad, spearheading the country's mobile insurance market growth.
“As the CEO of the firm, I will put my utmost efforts toward strengthening Kyobo Life Planet's competitiveness in the digital insurance market and expanding the insurtech trend,” Lee said. “Based on a mindset of innovation and creativity, the company aims to lead the insurance sector's new paradigm shift.”
Under Lee's leadership, Kyobo Life Planet received various honors and awards, including “Brand of the Year” for four consecutive years, “Web Award Korea” for five consecutive years and more. He recalled that he has attempted a variety of new initiatives, which helped the company earn customers' trust and spurred its growth.
Before taking office, CEO Lee earned BA and BS degrees at the University of Maryland and the University of Connecticut for mathematics, and began his career at an insurance company in the U.S. as an insurance expert. In 2001, he started to work for Seoul-headquartered Kyobo Life.