KOREA WHO

Choi Shin-won is Honorary Chairman of SK Networks.

He successfully transformed SK Networks, the origin of SK Group, and SKC into companies focused on advanced materials such as rental services and secondary batteries.

He is once again leading restructuring efforts to develop SK Networks into an artificial intelligence (AI)-based operating holding company.

He was born on the 20th day of the 11th lunar month in 1952 in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, as the second son of Choi Jong-gun, founder of Sunkyong Group, now SK Group.

He graduated from the Department of Business Administration at Kyung Hee University and joined Sunkyong Synthetic Fiber, now SK Chemicals, where he began his management training. He later moved to Sunkyong, now SK Networks, serving as a director at its New York office and as an executive director in the management planning office of Sunkyong Group.

In 1997, he became Vice Chairman and CEO of SK Distribution, and later served as Chairman of SKC, SK Telesys and SK Networks, leading overall management.

He stepped away from frontline management amid deteriorating business conditions at SKC and focused on external activities as Chairman of the Sunkyong Choi Jong-gun Foundation, Chairman of the Gyeonggi Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Vice Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He returned a year later as Chairman and CEO of SK Networks, but stepped down as chairman in 2021 after being indicted on charges including embezzlement and breach of trust.

After serving a prison term of two years and six months, he was pardoned in a special Liberation Day amnesty in 2025.

As the eldest member of the SK Group family, he plays a central role in bringing the family together.

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