As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 29, 202030, 2021

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 20-F

OR

OR

OR

Commission file number 1-14926

KT Corporation

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

KT Gwanghwamun Building East

33, Jong-ro 3-Gil, Jongno-gu

03155 Seoul, Korea

(Address of principal executive offices)

Kyung-Keun YoonYoung-Jin Kim

KT Gwanghwamun Building East

33, Jong-ro 3-Gil, Jongno-gu

03155 Seoul, Korea

Telephone: +82-31-727-0114; +82-31-727-0114;E-mail: ktir@kt.com

(Name, telephone, e-mail and/or facsimile number and address of company contact person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

None

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

None

As of December 31, 2019,2020, there were 245,241,550241,842,130 ordinary shares, par value￦5,000 per share, outstanding

(not including 15,870,25819,269,678 ordinary shares held by the registrant as treasury shares)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.Yes  ☒No☐

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.    Yes☐    No☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.Yes  Yes☒    No☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes  ☒    No☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer  ☒    Accelerated filer  ☐    Non-accelerated filer  ☐    Emerging growth company  ☐

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing.U.S. GAAP  ☐    IFRS  ☒     Other☐

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.    Item 17☐Item 18   ☐

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes☐No  ☒

TABLE OF CONTENTS

i

ii

iii

PRESENTATION

All references to “Korea” or the “Republic” contained in this annual report mean the Republic of Korea. All references to the “Government” are to the government of the Republic of Korea. All references to “we,” “us” or the “Company” are to KT Corporation and, as the context may require, its subsidiaries.

All references to “Won” or “￦” in this annual report are to the currency of the Republic and all references to “Dollars,” “$,” “US$” or “U.S. dollars” are to the currency of the United States of America. Our monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency are translated into Won at the market average exchange rate announced by Seoul Money Brokerage Services, Ltd. (the “Market Average Exchange Rate”) on the balance sheet dates, which were, for U.S. dollars,￦1,071.4 to US$1.00,￦1,118.1 to US$1.00, and￦1,157.8 to US$1.00 and ￦1,088.0 to US$1.00 on December 31, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2019,2020, respectively.

Any discrepancies in any table between totals and the sums of the amounts listed are due to rounding.

All market share data contained in this annual report, unless otherwise specified, are based on the number of subscribers announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT (the “MSIT”), the Korea Communications Commission (the “KCC”) or the Korea Telecommunications Operators Association.

PART  I

Item 1.   Identity of Directors, Senior Managers and Advisers

Item 1.A.  Directors and Senior Management

Not applicable.

Item 1.B.  Advisers

Not applicable.

Item 1.C.  Auditors

Not applicable.

Item 2.   Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Item 2.A.   Offer Statistics

Not applicable.

Item 2.B.   Method and Expected Timetable

Not applicable.

Item 3.  Key Information

Item 3.A.  Selected Financial Data

The selected financial data presented below should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 20182019 and 20192020 and for each of the years in the

three-year period ended December 31, 20192020 and related notes thereto (“Consolidated Financial Statements”) and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report. The selected financial data as of December 31, 20182019 and 20192020 and for each of the years in the three year period ended December 31, 20192020 were derived from our audited Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this annual report. Our Consolidated Financial Statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”). Beginning January 1, 2020, we have changed our accounting policy by adopting accounting treatments in accordance with agenda decisions for “Lease Term and Useful Life of Leasehold Improvements” issued by IFRS Interpretations Committee. We have adopted such changes in accounting policy retrospectively pursuant to IASB 8 Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors and adjusted the comparative line items as of and for the year ended December 31, 2019. Accordingly, the financial information as of and for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018 have not been restated for the change in accounting policy. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects – Item 5.A. Operating Results – Changes in Accounting Policies – Determination of Lease Term Considering Economic Penalty” and Note 41 of the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

In addition to preparing financial statements in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB included in this annual report, we prepare financial statements in accordance with IFRS as adopted by the Republic of Korea(“K-IFRS”), which we are required to file with the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Exchange under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act of Korea (“FSCMA”). English translations of such financial statements are furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission under Form6-K. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Item 5.A. Operating Results—Explanatory Note Regarding Presentation of Certain Financial Information underK-IFRS.”

The information set forth below is not necessarily indicative of the results of future operations and should be read in conjunction with “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” and our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes included in this annual report.

Selected consolidated statement of financial position data

Selected consolidated statement of cash flow data

Operating Data

Item 3.B.   Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

Item 3.C.   Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

Item 3.D.   Risk Factors

You should carefully consider the following factors.

Risks Relating to Our Business

Competition in each of our principal business areas is intense.

We face significant competition in each of our principal business areas. In the markets for mobile services, fixed-line services and media and content services, we compete primarily with SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (“SK Telecom”) and LG Uplus Corp. (“LG U+”) (including their affiliates). In the past two decades, considerable consolidation in the telecommunications industry has occurred, resulting in the current competitive landscape comprising three network service providers that offer a wide range of telecommunications and data communications services. EachIn recent years, each of our primary competitors has recently acquired or announced plans to acquire a leading cable TV operator in Korea to significantly increase their market shares in the pay TV market, which we expect willhas further intensifyintensified competition. In December 2019, LG U+ completed its acquisition of a controlling interest in CJ Hello Co., Ltd., which subsequently became LG HelloVision Co., Ltd. In February 2019, SK Telecom announced its plan to merge witht-broad Co., Ltd.(“t-broad”), which is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2020.

To a lesser extent, we also compete with various value-added service providers and network service providers as classified under the Framework Act on Telecommunications and the Telecommunications Business Act, including mobile virtual network operators (“MVNOs”) that lease mobile networks and offer mobile services, VoIP service providers that offer Internet telephone

providers in the markets for mobile services, fixed-line services and media and content services may further increase competition, as well as cause downward price pressure on the fees we charge for our services. For a discussion of our market shares in key markets, please see “Item 4. Information on the Company—Item 4.B. Business Overview—Competition.”

We compete primarily based on our service performance, quality and reliability, ability to accurately identify and respond to evolving consumer demand, and pricing. With the launch of the next generation 5G mobile services in April 2019, competition has further intensified among the three network service providers, which has resulted in an increase in marketing expenses as well as additional capital expenditures related to implementing 5G mobile services. Mobile service providers also grant subsidies or subscription discount rates to subscribers who purchase new handsets and agree to a minimum subscription period, and we compete also based on such amounts. We and SK Telecom have been designated as market-dominating business entities in the local telephone and mobile markets, respectively, under the Telecommunications Business Act. Under this Act, a market-dominating business entity may not engage in any act of abuse, such as unreasonably interfering with business activities of other business entities, hindering unfairly the entry of newcomers or substantially restricting competition to the detriment of the interests of consumers. In addition, changes in our local telephone rates and mobile rates of SK Telecom require prior approval fromare required to be reported to the MSIT.MSIT, which has 15 days to object to such changes. The KCC has also issued guidelines on fair competition of the telecommunications companies.

In the financial services market, our credit and check cards issued under the “BC Card” brand pursuant toco-brand agreements with member companies compete principally with cards issued by other leading credit card companies in Korea with their own merchant payment networks, such as Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card and Samsung Card. Our member companies that issueco-branded credit or check cards include Woori Card, NH Card, Industrial Bank of Korea and KB Kookmin Card. We also compete with service providers that provide outsourcing services related to business operations of credit card companies. Competition in the credit card and check card businesses has increased substantially as existing credit card companies, consumer finance companies and other financial institutions in Korea have made significant investments and engaged in aggressive marketing campaigns and promotions for their credit and check cards, as well as investing in operational infrastructure that may reduce the need for our outsourcing services.

Our inability to adapt to changes in the competitive landscape and compete against our competitors in our principal business areas could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Failure to renew existing bandwidth licenses, acquire adequate additional bandwidth licenses or use our bandwidth efficiently may adversely affect our mobile telecommunications business and results of operations.

One of the principal limitations on a wireless network’s subscriber capacity is the amount of bandwidth allocated to a service provider. We have acquired a number of licenses to secure bandwidth capacity to provide our broad range of services, for which we typically make an initial payment as well as pay usage fees during the license period. The MSIT reserves the right to reallocate bandwidths in order to address the changing needs for bandwidth capacity of mobile service providers, the consideration for which may depend on the extent of the buildout of the service provider’s telecommunications network to utilize the relevant bandwidth. We made bandwidth license payments of￦271 billion in 2017,￦573 billion in 2018, and￦389 billion in 2019. 2019 and ￦367 billion in 2020.For our outstanding payment obligations relating to our bandwidth licenses as of December 31, 2019,2020, see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Item 5.A. Operating Results—Overview—Acquisition of New Bandwidth Licenses and Usage Fees.” For more information on our bandwidth licenses, see “ Item 4. Information on the Company—Item 4.D. Property, Plant and Equipment—Mobile Networks.”

The growth of our mobile telecommunications business and the increase in usage of wireless data transmission services have significantly increased the utilization of our bandwidth, because wireless data applications are generally more bandwidth-intensive than voice services. The current trend of increasing data transmission use and the increasing sophistication of multimedia contents are likely to put additional strain on the bandwidth capacity of mobile service providers. In the event we are unable to maintain sufficient bandwidth capacity by renewing existing bandwidth licenses, receiving additional bandwidth allocation or cost-effectively implementing technologies that enhance the efficiency of our bandwidth usage, our subscribers may perceive a general decrease in the quality of mobile telecommunications services. No assurance can be given that bandwidth constraints will not adversely affect the growth of our mobile telecommunications business. Furthermore, we may be required to make substantial payments to acquire additional bandwidth capacity in order to meet increasing bandwidth demand, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The ongoing global pandemic of a new strain of coronavirus(“COVID-19”) and any possible recurrence of other types of widespread infectious diseases, may adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

TheCOVID-19, an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 that was first reported to have been transmitted to humans in late 2019 and has since spread globally, has materially and adversely affected the global economy and financial markets in recent months as well as disrupted our business operations.months. The World Health Organization declared theCOVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020. In light of the Government’s recommendationrecommendations for social distancing, we have periodically implemented in late February 2020 remote work arrangements for a portion of our workforce, includingparticularly for substantially all of our employees in areas severely impacted by the pandemic. While we do not believe that such temporary arrangements have had a material adverse impact on our business, a prolonged outbreak ofCOVID-19 may result in further disruptiondisruptions in the normal operations of our business, including disruptions in the operation of our facilities, delays in our network expansion projects, implementation of further work arrangements requiring employees to work remotely and/or temporary closures of our facilities,and restrictions on overseas and domestic business travel, which may lead to a reduction in labor productivity.

Other risks associated with a prolonged outbreak ofCOVID-19 or other types of widespread infectious diseases may potentially include:

We are currently not able to estimate the duration or full magnitude of harm fromCOVID-19. In the event thatCOVID-19 or other types of widespread infectious diseases cannot be effectively and timely contained, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Introduction of new services, including our 5G mobile services launched in April 2019, poses challenges and risks to us.

The telecommunications industry is characterized by continual advances and improvements in telecommunications technology, and we have been continually researching and implementing technology upgrades and additional telecommunications services to maintain our competitiveness. For example, we have been building more advanced mobile telecommunications networks based on 5G technology and commenced providing commercial 5G mobile services with transmission speed of up to 1.5 Gbps in April 2019, initially focusing on the Seoul metropolitan area, six additional metropolitan2019. Since then, we have expanded our coverage to 85 major cities high-traffic commercial areasin Korea, and university campuses as well as major transportation infrastructure such as highways, railways and airports. Wewe plan to further expand the coverage nationwide and increase the transmission speed of our 5G services. As we continue to compete with SK Telecom and LG U+ to improve network quality, introduce new services and accommodate increased data usage of subscribers, we may incur significant expenses to acquire additional bandwidth licenses and incur significant capital expenditures to build out and improve our network. We have made extensive efforts to develop advanced technologies as well as provide a variety of services with enhanced speed, latency and connectivity. Furthermore, we are also continually upgrading our broadband network to enable betterfiber-to-the-home (“FTTH”) connection, which enhances data transmission speed and connection quality. FTTH is a telecommunication architecture in which a communication path is provided over optical fiber cable extending from the telecommunications operator’s switching equipment to homes or offices. FTTH uses fiber optic cable, which is able to carry a high-bandwidth signal for longer distances without degradation. FTTH enables us to deliver enhanced services that require high bandwidth with stability, such as IPTV and other digital media and content services.

No assurance can be given that our new services will gain broad market acceptance such that we will be able to derive revenue from such services to justify the license fees, capital expenditures and other investments required to provide such services. For example, we discontinued our wireless broadband Internet access (“WiBro”) services in the fourth quarter of 2018, following a steady decrease in its subscriber base in recent years reflecting an increase in popularity of 4G LTE services. If our new services do not gain broad market acceptance, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

We may not be able to successfully pursue our strategy to acquire businesses and enter into joint ventures that complement or diversify our current business, and we may need to incur additional debt to finance such expansion activities.

One key aspect of our overall business strategy calls for acquisitions of businesses and entering into joint ventures that complement or diversify our current businesses. For example, in July 2020, KT Skylife Co., Ltd. (“KT Skylife”), in which we have pursued investment opportunitiesheld a 49.99% interest as of December 31, 2020, was selected as the preferred bidder in connection with the financial sector in the past decade that we believe provide attractive growth opportunities. In October 2011, we acquiredacquisition of a controlling interest in BC CardHyundai HCN Co., Ltd. (“BC Card”HCN”), which is Korea’s fifth largest cable operator. In October 2020, KT Skylife proposed to acquire a leading credit card solutions provider100.00% interest in KoreaHCN for ￦491 billion, and the transaction is expected to be completed in which we hold a 69.54% interest. We also acquired 10.00%the second half of 2021. The HCN acquisition is currently pending regulatory approval, and certain terms and conditions of the common shares of K Bank Inc. (“K Bank”), an Internet-only bank that began its commercial operations in April 2017, which interest is accounted for using the equity method of accounting.In April 2020, we agreedtransaction are subject to transfer such interestadjustments prior to BC Card for￦36.3 billion, which transfer would take place only upon satisfaction of certain conditions.closing.

While we plan to continue our search for other suitable acquisition and joint venture opportunities, we cannot provide assurance that we will be able to identify additional attractive opportunities or that we will successfully complete the transactions without encountering administrative, technical, political, financial or other difficulties, or at all. Even if we were to successfully complete the transactions, the success of an acquisition or a joint venture depends largely on our ability to achieve the anticipated synergies, cost savings and growth opportunities from integrating the

The Korean telecommunications and Internet-related industries are subject to extensive Government regulations, and changes in Government policy relating to these industries could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition.

The Government, primarily through the MSIT and the KCC, has the authority to regulate the telecommunications industry in Korea. The MSIT and the KCC also have the authority to regulate the pay TV industry under the Korea Broadcasting Act and the Internet Multimedia Broadcasting Services Act, which cover our IPTV services, as well as our satellite TV services provided through KT Skylife Co.(in which we held a 49.99% interest as of December 31, 2020), Ltd. (“KT Skylife”),and cable TV services that we would provide through HCN, in which we ownKT Skylife would hold a 49.99% interest.100.0% interest upon consummation of its acquisition that is expected to be completed in the second half of 2021.The HCN acquisition is currently pending regulatory approval, and certain terms and conditions of the transaction are subject to adjustments prior to closing. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—Item 4.B. Business Overview—Regulation.” The MSIT’s policy is to promote competition through measures designed to prevent the dominant service provider in any such market from exercising its market power in a way that would prevent the emergence and development of viable competitors. Under such regulations, if a network service provider has the largest market share for a specified type of telecommunications service and its revenue from that service for the previous year exceeds a specific revenue amount set by the MSIT, such entity may be designated as a market-dominating business entity that may not engage in any act of abuse, such as unreasonably interfering with business activities of other business entities, hindering unfairly the entry of newcomers or substantially restricting competition to the detriment of the interests of consumers. Furthermore, under the Internet Multimedia Broadcasting Services Act, an IPTV service provider, together with its affiliates providing IPTV services, is restricted from having more thanone-third of the market share of all paid broadcasting subscribers in Korea (consisting of IPTV, cable TV and satellite TV subscribers). As of December 31, 2019,2020, KT Skylife, HCN and we together had an aggregate market share of 31.6%35.9% of all paid broadcasting subscribers in Korea.The KCC has also issued guidelines on fair competition of telecommunications and Internet-related companies. In addition, the Government sets the policies regarding the use of radio frequency bandwidths and allocates the bandwidths used for wireless telecommunications by an auction process or by a planned allocation.

We and SK Telecom have been designated as market-dominating business entities in the local telephone and mobile markets, respectively,respectively. Accordingly, changes in our local telephone rates and mobile rates of SK Telecom are required to be reported to the MSIT, in consultation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance (“MOEF”), currently approves rates charged by us and SK Telecom forwhich has 15 days to object to such services.changes. The form of our standard agreement for providing local network services and each agreement for interconnection with other service providers must also be reported to the MSIT. Although we compete freely with other network service providers in terms of rate plans for our principal telecommunications and Internet-related services except for rates we charge for local calls, our inability to freely set our local telephone service rates may hurt profits from such businesses and impede our ability to compete effectively against our competitors. In addition, the MSIT may periodically announce policy guidelines that we may be recommended to take into consideration in our telecommunications and Internet-related businesses.Inbusinesses.In recent years, the MSIT has announced policy guidelines with the objectives of reducing mobile service rates and promoting transparency in the decision making of telecommunications service providers. Specific policy guidelines include monthly rate reductions applicable to certainlow-income subscribers as well as subscription rate discounts in lieu of handset subsidies. Starting in December 2017,For instance, we began providing rate discounts of up to￦11,000 per month to ourlow-income mobile subscribers on government welfare programs. We also increased the maximum discount rate applicable to mobile subscribers who elect not to receive handset subsidies

The MSIT may revoke our licenses or suspend any of our businesses if we fail to comply with its rules, regulations and corrective orders, including the rules restricting beneficial ownership and control or any violation of the conditions of our licenses. Alternatively, in lieu of suspension of our business, the MSIT may levy a monetary penalty of up to 3.0% of the average of our annual revenue for the preceding three fiscal years. From time to time, we have been imposed fines for violation of regulations imposed by MSIT and KCC, including imposition of fines of￦12.5 billion in January 2018 and￦0.9 billion in April 2019 by the KCC for violation of regulations relating to handset sales.KCC. There is no guarantee that the laws and regulations to which we are or become subject will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Legal cases involving our charitable or political donations and other incidents and allegations, including matters connected to a scandal involving Ms. Soon-sil Choi, a confidante of former President Geun-hye Park, could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and stock price.

In April 2014, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office charged Mr. Suk-chae Lee, a former chief executive officer of KT Corporation, with embezzlement and breach of fiduciary duty. Mr. Il Yung Kim, a former president of KT Corporation, was charged as a co-conspirator in the breach of fiduciary duty by Mr. Lee, and Mr. Yu-yeol Seo, a former president of KT Corporation, was charged as a co-conspirator in Mr. Lee’s embezzlement. On May 30, 2017, the Supreme Court of Korea confirmed the acquittal of Mr. Lee and Mr. Kim on the charge of breach of fiduciary duty, and reversed the appellate court judgment against Mr. Lee and Mr. Seo (which had sentenced both to a suspended prison term of 18 months, on probation for two years, for allegedly creating and embezzling off-the-book funds of￦1.1 billion for personal use between 2009 and 2013) and remanded the case back to the Seoul High Court. On April 26, 2018, the Seoul High Court acquitted Mr. Lee and Mr. Seo of such charge. No indictment or charges of wrongdoing were brought against us or any of our current executives or employees in connection with such indictment of Mr. Lee, Mr. Seo, and Mr. Kim.

In March 2017, the Constitutional Court of Korea found that many Korean corporations, including us, made donations to two non-profit foundations, Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation, at former President Park’s request. Our contributions comprised￦1.1 billion of the total￦48.6 billion given to Mir Foundation and￦700 million of the total￦28.8 billion given to K-Sports Foundation. The Constitutional Court also found that an aide of former President Park, at the direction of the former President, on several occasions asked our previous chief executive officer to hire (and later to change the employment positions of) two individuals, Mr. Dong-Soo Lee and Ms. Hye-Sung Shin. Mr. Lee was hired and later appointed as the head of a business unit in charge of our marketing and advertisement campaigns and Ms. Shin was hired to another position in the same business unit. Subsequently, the same presidential aide also requested that Mr. Lee and our other officers award advertising contracts to Playground Communications Co., Ltd. (“Playground”), an advertising agency in which Ms. Soon-sil Choi, a confidante of former President Park, effectively owns a 70% equity interest, according to the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court further held that the companies receiving the purported “requests” from former President Park’s aide appeared to have felt immense pressure to comply with the requests and could not easily have rejected them. Playground was awarded seven advertising

the Constitutional Court decisions described above: (i) the employment and changes to the employment positions of Mr. Lee and Ms. Shin at KT Corporation, (ii) the entry into advertising contracts with Playground and (iii) the donations to Mir Foundation and K-Sports Foundation by us and other Korean corporations. The prosecution appealed the appellate court’s decision to the Supreme Court of Korea, which onin August 29, 2019 vacated the appellate court judgment against the former President on the bribery-related charges due to errors made in its sentencing process and remanded the case back to the Seoul High Court for retrial. In July 2020, the Seoul High Court sentenced former President Park upon retrial to a prison term of 15 years and a monetary fine of ￦18 billion for the bribery-related charges and a prison term of 5 years for the other charges including abuse of power. The prosecution appealed the appellate court’s decision to the Supreme Court of Korea, which in January 2021 rejected the appeal and affirmed the appellate court’s judgment, which became final and conclusive. No indictment or charges of wrongdoing were brought against us or any of our executives or employees in connection with such indictment of the former President.

OnIn January 18, 2018, the Korean Prosecutor’s Office indicted Mr. Byung-Hun Jun, a former member of the National Assembly, for charges of bribery, corruption and coercion, among others. One of the allegations was that Mr. Jun, during his term as a member of the former Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting and Communications Committee (currently the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee) of the National Assembly, solicited donations or financial sponsorships from various corporations, including us, to an organization where he used to serve as the president. In February 2019, the Seoul Central District Court found Mr. Jun guilty of the bribery charges and sentenced him to a prison term of five years and an aggregate monetary fine of￦375 million, guilty of abuse of authority and sentenced him to a suspended prison term of one year on probation for two years, and not guilty of the charge in connection with soliciting financial sponsorship of￦100 million from us. Both Mr. Jun and the Korean prosecution appealed the court’s decision.decision to the Seoul High Court, which in July 2020 found Mr. Jun guilty of the bribery charges, among others, and sentenced him to a suspended prison term of one year on probation for two years and an aggregate monetary fine of ￦200 million and not guilty of the charge in connection with soliciting financial sponsorship of ￦100 million from us. In March 2021, the Supreme Court of Korea affirmed the appellate court’s judgment against Mr. Jun, which became final and conclusive. No indictment or charges of wrongdoing were brought against us or any of our executives or employees in connection with Mr. Jun’s indictment.

In January 2018, the Korean police commenced an investigation in connection with the allegations that our current and former executives and employees violated the Political Funds Act of Korea, by making certain donations or giftsproviding gift cards to various lawmakers using corporate funds. This matter is currently being investigated by the Prosecutors’ Office.

In March 2019, the KT New Labor Union filed criminal complaints with the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office against our previous chief executive officer, Mr. Chang-Gyu Hwang, alleging charges that include a criminal breach of fiduciary duty, in connection with management consulting (research and survey) contracts entered into between us and others, including certain former public officials, since November 2014. The investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office is ongoing.

In April 2019, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutor’s Office indicted four former executive officers, including Mr. Suk-chae Lee and Mr. Yu-yeol Seo, for charges of obstruction of business arising from allegedly engaging in a number of improper hiringshiring during the public recruiting process of college graduates in the second half of 2012. In October 2019, the Seoul Southern District Court found the former executive officers guilty of the charges and sentenced Mr. Lee to a prison term of one year and Mr. Seo to a suspended prison term of eight months on probation for two years. Both the Prosecutor’s Office and the former executive officers appealed the court’s decision to the Seoul High Court, which in November 2020 sentenced Mr. Lee to a suspended prison term of one year and the case is6 months on probation for two years and Mr. Seo to a suspended prison term of eight months on

currently pending atprobation for two years. In addition, the Seoul High Court.Court found Mr. Lee guilty of bribery charges in relation to the improper hiring incident. Mr. Lee appealed the court’s decisions to the Supreme Court of Korea, where the case is currently pending. No indictment or charges of wrongdoing were brought against us or any of our current executives or employees in connection with such indictment of our former executive officers.

We are also cooperating with an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) related to the above-described matters and other related allegations regarding compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is not possible to determine the outcome of any such investigations at this time, including the timing or terms of any potential resolution and what final costs, remediation, payments or other criminal or civil liability may occur. There can be no assurance that the SEC or another regulatory body will not make further regulatory inquiries or pursue further action. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that any outcome or any further developments relating to the above-mentioned matters, including adverse publicity, will not adversely affect our business, financial results, reputation or stock price.price.

Cybersecurity breaches may expose us to significant legal and financial exposure, damage to our reputation and a loss of confidence of our customers.

Our business involves the storage and transmission of large amounts of confidential information of our subscribers and cardholders, and cybersecurity breaches expose us to a risk of loss of this information, which may lead to improper use or disclosure of such information, ensuing potential liability and litigation, any of which could harm our reputation and adversely affect our business. Even though we strive to take all steps we believe are necessary to protect personal information, hardware, software or applications we develop or procure from third parties may contain defects or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to circumvent our security measures to gain access to our systems or facilities through fraud, trickery or other forms of deceiving our employees, contractors and temporary staff. In addition, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently and may be difficult to detect for long periods of time, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventive measures.

In the past, we have experienced cyber-attacks of varying degrees from time to time, including theft of personal information of our subscribers by third parties that have led to lawsuits and administrative actions against us alleging that the leak was related to our management of subscribers’ personal information. For example, in July 2012, the police arrested two third-party individuals in connection with the alleged theft of personal information relating to approximately 8.7 million of our mobile phone subscribers. The individuals in question stole personal information through a series of hackings into our mobile customer information system starting from February 2012. Furthermore, in March 2014, the police arrested three third-party individuals in connection with their alleged theft of personal information relating to approximately 9.8 million of our subscribers. The individuals in question stole the personal information of our subscribers through a series of hackings into our main homepage starting from February 2014. If we experience additional significant cybersecurity breaches or fail to detect and appropriately respond to significant cybersecurity breaches, we could be subject to additional government enforcement actions, regulatory sanctions and litigation in the future. In addition, our subscribers and cardholders could lose confidence in our ability to protect their personal information, which could cause them to discontinue using our services altogether. Furthermore, adverse final determinations, decisions or resolutions regarding such matters could encourage other parties to bring related claims and actions against us. Accordingly, our failure to prevent cybersecurity breaches may materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

avoid performance delays or outages that could be harmful to our business. We have experienced, and may in the future experience, service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, human or software errors, hardware failures, capacity constraints due to an overwhelming number of people accessing our services simultaneously, computer viruses, power losses, fraud and security attacks. Our technical infrastructure is also vulnerable to the risk of damage from natural and other disasters, such as fires, earthquakes, floods, and typhoons, as well as from acts of terrorism and other criminal acts. For example, in November 2018, a fire broke out at one of our facilities located in the Ahyeon district of western Seoul, which temporarily disrupted our wireless, fixed-line and IPTV services in seven districts covered by the facility. We restored most of our services within four days and our fixed-line public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) services within 11 days, and we refunded subscription fees ranging from one to six months as compensation to our affected subscribers. In addition, we accepted applications from small business owners for financial assistance, which we provided as appropriate to assist in their recovery from the incident.

As the number of our subscribers and cardholders increases and as our customers access, download and transmit increasing volumes of media contents as well as engage in increasing volumes of financial transactions, we may be required to expand and upgrade our technology and infrastructure to continue to reliably deliver our services. We cannot provide assurance that we will be able to expand and upgrade our technology and infrastructure to meet user demand in a timely manner, or on favorable economic terms. We purchase telecommunications network and other equipment from a limited number of key suppliers, and any discontinuation or interruption in the availability of equipment from our key suppliers for any reason could have an adverse effect on our operations. If our users are unable to readily access our services or access is disrupted, users may seek other service providers instead, and may not return to our services or use our services as often in the future. This would negatively impact our ability to attract subscribers, cardholders and other business partners as well as increase engagement of our customers. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed or continually develop our technology and infrastructure to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in our customers’ needs, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.

Our intellectual property rights are valuable, and our inability to protect them could reduce the value of our products, services and brands.

Our trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, patents and other intellectual property rights are important assets for us. We rely on, and expect to continue to rely on, a combination of confidentiality and license agreements with our employees, consultants and third parties with whom we have relationships, as well as trademark, trade dress, domain name, copyright, trade secret and patent laws, to protect our brands and other intellectual property rights. However, various events outside of our control may pose a threat to our intellectual property rights, as well as to our products, services and technologies. For example, we may fail to obtain effective intellectual property protection, or effective intellectual property protection may not be available, in every country in which our services are available. Also, the efforts we have taken to protect our intellectual property rights may not be sufficient or effective, and any of our intellectual property rights may be challenged, which could result in them

otherwise be disclosed or become known to our competitors, which could cause us to lose competitive advantages resulting from such intellectual property.

We are also pursuing registration of trademarks and domain names in Korea and in select jurisdictions outside of Korea. Effective protection of trademarks, domain names and other intellectual property is expensive and difficult to maintain, both in terms of application and registration costs as well as the costs of defending and enforcing those rights.

We also seek to obtain patent protection for some of our technology, and we have filed various applications in Korea and elsewhere for protection of certain aspects of our intellectual property and currently hold a number of issued patents in multiple jurisdictions. We may be unable to obtain patent or trademark protection for our technologies and brands, and our existing patents and trademarks, and any patents or trademarks that may be issued in the future, may not provide us with competitive advantages or distinguish our products and services from those of our competitors. In addition, any patents and trademarks may be contested, circumvented, or found unenforceable or invalid, and we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing, diluting or otherwise violating them. Significant infringements of our intellectual property rights, and limitations on our ability to assert our intellectual property rights against others, could harm our ability to compete and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We may become party to intellectual property rights claims in the future that may be expensive and time consuming to defend, and such claims, if resolved adversely, could have a significant impact on our business.

Telecommunications and information technology companies own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks, licenses and trade secrets, and frequently enter into litigation based on allegations of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property or other rights. In addition, various“non-practicing entities” that own intellectual property rights often attempt to aggressively assert claims in order to extract payments from companies like us. From time to time, we have received, and may receive in the future, claims from third parties which allege that we have infringed upon their intellectual property rights. Furthermore, from time to time, we may introduce or acquire new services or content, including in areas where we currently do not compete, which could increase our exposure to intellectual property claims from competitors andnon-practicing entities.

As we face increasing competition, the number and scope of intellectual property claims against us may grow. Any claim or litigation alleging that we have infringed or otherwise violated intellectual property or other rights of third parties, with or without merit, and whether or not settled out of court or determined in our favor, could be time consuming and costly to address and resolve, and could divert the time and attention of our management and technical personnel. The outcome of any litigation is inherently uncertain, and there can be no assurance that favorable final outcomes will be obtained. In addition, plaintiffs may seek, and we may become subject to, preliminary or provisional rulings in the course of any such litigation, including potential preliminary injunctions requiring us to cease some or all of our operations.

We rely on key researchers and engineers and senior management, and the loss of the services of any such key personnel or the inability to attract and retain replacements may negatively affect our business.

Our success depends to a significant extent upon the continued service of our research and development and engineering personnel, and on our ability to continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified researchers and engineers. In particular, our focus on leading the market in introducing new telecommunications and Internet-related services has meant that we must aggressively recruit engineers with expertise in cutting-edge technologies. In addition, our ability to execute our strategy effectively is dependent upon contributions from our key senior management. Our future success will depend on the continued service of our key executive officers and managers who possess significant expertise and knowledge of our industry. A limited number of individuals have primary responsibility for the management of our business, including our relationships with key business partners. From time to time, there may be changes in our senior management team that may be disruptive to our business, and we may not be able to find replacement key personnel in a timely manner. Any loss or interruption of the services of these individuals, whether from retirement, loss to competitors or other causes, or failure to attract and retain other qualified new personnel, could prevent us from effectively executing our business strategy, cause us to lose key business relationships, or otherwise materially affect our operations.

Government regulation of the credit card industry may adversely affect the operations of BC Card in which we holdheld a 69.54% interest.69.5% interest as of December 31, 2020.

Due to the rapid growth of the credit card market and rising consumer debt levels in Korea, the Government has heightened its regulatory oversight of the credit card industry in recent decades. In particular, the FSC and the Financial Supervisory Service (“FSS”) have adopted a variety of regulations governing the credit card industry. Among other things, these regulations impose minimum capital adequacy ratios, minimum required provisioning levels applicable to credit card receivables and stringent lending ratios. The FSC and FSS also impose rules governing the evaluation and reporting of credit card balances, procedures governing which persons may receive credit cards as well as processing fees paid by merchants. For example, the FSC and FSS announce periodic guidelines every three years for processing fees paid by merchants for credit card and check card transactions. In November 2018, the FSC and FSS announced guidelines reducing credit card processing fees paid by merchants with annual revenue between￦500 million to￦50 billion from a range of 2.05% to 2.17% to a revised range of 1.4% to 1.95%. In addition, the guidelines reduced check card processing fees paid by merchants with annual revenue exceeding￦500 million from a range of 1.56% to 1.60% to a revised range of 1.10% to 1.45%. BC Card implemented such reductions in February 2019.

Pursuant to the FSS’s capital adequacy guidelines, which are derived from standards established by the Bank for International Settlements, credit card companies in Korea are required to maintain a total capital adequacy ratio of at least 8.0% on a consolidated basis. To the extent a credit card company fails to maintain such ratio, Korean regulatory authorities may impose penalties on such company ranging from a warning to a suspension or revocation of its license. BC Card’s capital

Disputes with our labor union may disrupt our business operations.

In the past, we have experienced opposition from our labor union for our strategy of restructuring to improve our efficiency and profitability by disposing ofnon-core businesses and reducing our employee base. Although we have not experienced any significant labor disputes or unrests in recent years,there can be no assurance that we will not experience labor disputes or unrests in the future, including extended protests and strikes, which could disrupt our business operations and have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We also negotiate collective bargaining agreements every two years with our labor union and annually negotiate a wage agreement. Our current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 16, 2021. Although we have been able to reach collective bargaining agreements and wage agreements with our labor union in recent years, there can be no assurance that we will not experience labor disputes and unrest resulting from disagreements with the labor union in the future.

We are subject to various laws and regulations in Korea and other jurisdictions, including the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act of Korea.

Our business operations and acts of our management, employees and other relevant parties are subject to various laws and regulations in and outside Korea. These laws are complicated and sometimes conflicting and our efforts to comply with these laws could increase our cost of doing business, restrict our business activities and expose us or our employees to legal sanctions and liabilities.

The Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act provides for various regulations and restrictions on large business groups enforced by the Korea Fair Trade Commission to prohibit or restrict actions that impede competition and fair trade. The Korea Fair Trade Commission designated us as a large business group under the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act on April 1, 2002. Our business relationships and transactions with our subsidiaries, affiliates and other companies within the KT group are subject to ongoing scrutiny by the Fair Trade Commission as to, among other things, whether such relationships and transactions constitute undue financial support among companies of the same business group. We are also subject to the fair trade regulations limiting debt guarantees for other domestic member companies of the same group and cross-shareholdings among domestic member companies of the same group, as well as requiring disclosure of the status of such cross-shareholdings. Additionally, we are subject to a prohibition, in effect since July 2014, against circular shareholding among any three or more entities within our business group.Anygroup. Any future determination by

such health concerns will not adversely affect our business. Several class action and personal injury lawsuits have been filed in the United States against several wireless phone manufacturers and carriers, asserting product liability, breach of warranty and other claims relating to radio transmissions to and from wireless phones. We could be subject to liability or incur significant costs defending lawsuits brought by our subscribers or other parties who claim to have been harmed by or as a result of our services. In addition, the actual or perceived risk of wireless telecommunications devices could have an adverse effect on us by reducing our number of subscribers or our usage per subscriber.

Depreciation of the value of the Won against the Dollar and other major foreign currencies may have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations and on the prices of our securities.

Substantially all of our revenues are denominated in Won. Depreciation of the Won may materially affect the results of our operations because, among other things, it causes an increase in the amount of Won required by us to make interest and principal payments on our foreign-currency-denominated debt, the costs of telecommunications equipment that we purchase from overseas sources, net settlement payments to foreign carriers and certain payments related to our derivative instruments entered into for foreign exchange risk hedging purposes. Of the￦7,2997,316 billion total book value of debentures and borrowings outstanding as of December 31, 2019,2020, ￦2,7812,741 billion was denominated in foreign currencies. Upon identification and evaluation of our currency risk exposures, we, having considered various circumstances, enter into derivative financial instruments to try to mitigate such risks. Although the impact of exchange rate fluctuations has in the past been partially mitigated by such strategies, our results of operations have historically been affected by exchange rate fluctuations, and there can be no assurance that such strategies will be sufficient to reduce or eliminate the adverse impact of such fluctuations in the future. See “—Item 3.A. Selected Financial Data—Exchange Rate Information”, “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Item 5.B. Liquidity and Capital Resources” and “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Exchange Rate Risk.”

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the Won and the Dollar will also affect the Dollar equivalent of the Won price of our ordinary shares on the KRX Korea Composite Stock Price Index (“KOSPI”) Market and, as a result, will likely affect the market price of the ADSs. These fluctuations will also affect the Dollar conversion by the depositary for the American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) of cash dividends, if any, paid in Won on our ordinary shares represented by the ADSs.

Under this decision, any collective bargaining agreement or labor-management agreement which attempts to exclude such regular bonuses from employees’ ordinary wages will be deemed void for violation of the mandatory provisions of Korean law. However, the Supreme Court of Korea further ruled that, in certain limited situations, an employee’s claim of underpayment under the expanded scope of ordinary wages for the past three years may be denied based on the principles of good faith, even if the claim is raised within the statute of limitations period. Following this Supreme Court decision, the Ministry of Employment and Labor issued a Guideline for Labor and Management on Ordinary Wages in January 2014. A bill for amendment to the Labor Standard Act, which includes a definition of “ordinary wages” as “entire money and valuables determined in advance to be provided to the employee by the employer as wages, regardless of its name, in exchange of the prescribed or total work of the employee,” is currently pending at thesub-committee level of the National Assembly.

While we currently are not subject to any claims of underpayment from our current or former employees,the Supreme Court decision may result in additional labor costs for us in the form of additional payments required under the expanded scope of ordinary wages, both those incurred during the past three years and those to be incurred in the future. Any such additional payments may have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operation.operations.

Risks Relating to Korea

If economic conditions in Korea deteriorate, our current business and future growth could be materially and adversely affected.

We are incorporated in Korea, and we generate most of our operating revenue in Korea. As a result, we are subject to economic, political, legal and regulatory risks specific to Korea. The economic indicators in Korea in recent years have shown mixed signs of growth and uncertainty, and future growth of the Korean economy is subject to many factors beyond our control, including developments in the global economy. Any future deterioration of the Korean economy, as a result of unfavorable global economic conditions or otherwise, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and the market price of our ADSs.

In particular, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on the Korean economy. Following the Government’s announcement of the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Korea in January 2020, it has implemented a number of measures in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 disease, including a nationwide order for social distancing, implementation of strict self-isolation and quarantine measures for those who may be infected, and the temporary closure of all school and other public facilities. In addition, the Government has undertaken a series of actions to mitigate the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Korean economy, including (i) lowering of The Bank of Korea’s policy rates, (ii) execution of a bilateral currency swap agreement with the U.S. Federal Reserve, (iii) provision of loans, guarantees and maturity extensions to eligible financial institutions, small and medium business enterprises and self-employed business owners facing liquidity crises; (iv) offering emergency relief payments for those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; and (v) establishment of the Key Industry Stabilization Fund in May 2020 to support businesses in certain key industries, such as the air transport and maritime industries. However, the impact of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic to the Korean economy in 2021 and for the foreseeable future remains highly uncertain.

Developments that could have an adverse impact on Korea’s economy include:

and June 2019, there can be no assurance that the level of tensions affecting the Korean peninsula will not escalate in the future. Any increase in tensions, which may occur, for example, if North Korea experiences a leadership crisis,high-level contacts between Korea or the United States and North Korea break down or further military hostilities occur, could have a material adverse effect on the Korean economy and on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Korea’s legislation allowing class action suits related to securities transactions may expose us to additional litigation risk.

The Securities-related Class Action Act of Korea enacted in January 2004 allows class action suits to be brought by shareholders of companies (including us) listed on the KRX KOSPI Market for losses incurred in connection with purchases and sales of securities and other securities transactions arising from (1) false or inaccurate statements provided in the registration statements, prospectuses, business reports, audit reports, semi-annual or quarterly reports and material fact reports and omission of material information in such documents, (2) insider trading, (3) market manipulation and (4) unfair trading. This law permits 50 or more shareholders who collectively hold 0.01% of the shares of a company to bring a class action suit against, among others, the issuer and its directors and officers. Because of the relatively recent enactment of the act, there is not enough judicial precedent to predict how the courts will apply the law. Litigation can be time-consuming and expensive to resolve, and can divert management time and attention from business operation. We are not aware of any basis upon which such suit may be brought against us, nor are any such suits pending or threatened. Any such litigation brought against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are generally subject to Korean corporate governance and disclosure standards, which differ in significant respects from those in other countries.

Companies in Korea, including us, are subject to corporate governance standards applicable to Korean public companies which differ in some respects from standards applicable in other countries, including the United States. As a reporting company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, we are, and will continue to be, subject to certain corporate governance standards. However, foreign private issuers, including us, are exempt from certain corporate governance standards required under the New York Stock Exchange. For a description of significant differences in corporate governance practice compared to corporate governance standards of the New York Stock Exchange applicable to U.S. issuers, see “Item 16G. Corporate Governance.” There may also be less publicly available information about Korean companies, such as us, than is regularly made available by public ornon-public companies in other countries.

offerings of ADSs and stock dividends or other distributions related to these ADSs) and (2) the number of shares on deposit with the depositary bank at the time of such proposed deposit. The depositary bank has informed us that, at a time it considers to be appropriate, the depositary bank plans to start accepting deposits of shares without our consent and to deliver ADSs representing those shares up to the amount allowed under current Korean laws and regulations. Until such time, however, the depositary bank will continue to obtain our consent for such deposits of shares and delivery of ADSs, which we may not provide. Consequently, if an investor surrenders his ADSs to withdraw the underlying shares, he may not be allowed to deposit the shares again to obtain ADSs. See “Item 10. Additional Information—Item 10.D. Exchange Controls.”

A foreign investor may not be able to exercise voting rights with respect to common shares exceeding certain restrictions.

Under the Telecommunications Business Act, a foreign shareholder who holds 5.0% or more of our total shares is prohibited from becoming our largest shareholder. However, any foreign shareholder who held 5.0% or more of our total shares and was our largest shareholder on or prior to May 9, 2004 is exempt from the regulations, provided that such foreign shareholder may not acquire any more of our shares. In addition, under the Telecommunications Business Act, the MSIT may, if it deems it necessary to preserve substantial public interests, prohibit a foreign shareholder from being our largest shareholder. In the event that any foreigner or foreign government acquires our shares in violation of the above provisions, such foreign shareholder may not be able to exercise voting rights with respect to common shares exceeding such threshold. The MSIT may also order us or the foreign shareholder to take corrective measures in respect of the excess shares within a specified period of six months or less.

In addition, the Telecommunications Business Act restricts the ownership and control of network service providers by foreign shareholders. Foreigners, foreign governments and “foreign invested companies” may not own more than 49.0% of the issued shares with voting rights of a network service provider, including us. As of December 31, 2019, 46.6%2020, 43.6% of our common shares were owned by foreign investors. In the event that any foreigner or foreign government acquires our shares in violation of the above provisions, such foreign shareholder may not be able to exercise voting rights with respect to common shares exceeding such threshold. The MSIT may also order us or the foreign shareholder to take corrective measures in respect of the excess shares within a specified period of six months or less. See “Item 4. Information of the Company—Item 4.B. Business Overview—Regulation—Foreign Investment” and “Item 10. Additional Information—Item 10.B. Memorandum and Articles of Association—Limitations on Shareholding.”

ownership percentage whenever new shares are issued. If we offer any rights to subscribe for additional ordinary shares or any rights of any other nature, the depositary bank, after consultation with us, may make the rights available to an ADS holder or use reasonable efforts to dispose of the rights on behalf of the ADS holder and make the net proceeds available to the ADS holder. The depositary bank, however, is not required to make available to an ADS holder any rights to purchase any additional shares unless it deems that doing so is lawful and feasible and:

We are under no obligation to file any registration statement. If a registration statement is required for an ADS holder to exercise preemptive rights but is not filed by us, the ADS holder will not be able to exercise his preemptive rights for additional shares. As a result, the ADS holder may suffer dilution of his equity interest in us.

Forward-looking statements may prove to be inaccurate.

This annual report contains “forward-looking statements” that are based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about us and the industries in which we operate. The forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Theseforward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those statements using words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continues,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “project,” “aim,” “plan,” “likely to,” “target,” “contemplate,” “predict,” “potential” and similar expressions and future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “might,” “can,” “may,” or similar expressions generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Those statements include, among other things, the discussions of our business strategy and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, liquidity and capital resources. We caution you that reliance on any forward-looking statement involves risks and uncertainties, and that although we believe that the assumptions on which our forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and, as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions could be incorrect. The uncertainties in this regard include, but are not limited to, those identified in the risk factors discussed above. In light of these and other uncertainties, you should not conclude that we will necessarily achieve any plans and objectives or projected financial results referred to in any of the forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to release the results of any revisions of these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

electing our directors, who had previously been appointed by the Government under the Korea Telecom Act.

Prior to 1993, the Government owned all of the issued shares of our common stock. From 1993 through May 2002, the Government disposed of all of its equity interest in us, and the privatization laws ceased to apply to us in August 2002. We amended our legal name from Korea Telecom Corp. to KT Corporation in March 2002.

Before December 1991, we were the sole provider of local, domestic long-distance and international long-distance telephone services in Korea. The Government began to introduce competition in the telecommunications services market in the early 1990’s. As a result, including ourselves, there are currently three local telephone service providers, five domestic long-distance carriers and numerous international long-distance carriers (including voice resellers) in Korea.In addition, the Government awarded licenses to several service providers to promote competition in other telecommunications business areas such as mobile telephone services and data network services. In June 2009, KT Freetel Co., Ltd. (“KTF”), a subsidiary providing mobile telephone services, merged into KT Corporation, with KT Corporation surviving the merger, with the objective of maximizing management efficiencies of our fixed-line and mobile telecommunications operations as well as more effectively responding to the convergence trends in the telecommunications industry. There are currently three mobile telephone service providers in Korea. See “—Item 4.B. Business Overview—Competition.”

We are a corporation with limited liability organized under the laws of Korea, and our legal and commercial name is KT Corporation. Our principal executive offices are located at KT Gwanghwamun Building East, 33,Jong-ro3-gil,Jong-ro 3-gil, Jongno-gu, 03155, Seoul, Korea, our telephone number is+82-31-727-0114 and the address of our English website is https://corp.kt.com/eng/.

The SEC maintains a website (http://www.sec.gov), which contains reports, information statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

Item 4.B. Business Overview

We are the leading integrated telecommunications and platform service provider in Korea and one of the most advanced in Asia. In 2020, we announced our plans to transform ourselves into a digital telecommunications platform company as we strive to further expand and strengthen our digital platforms including in relation to our business-to-business (“B2B”), media, contents and financial services. Our principal services include:

Leveraging our dominant position in the fixed-line telephone services market and our established customer base in Korea, we have successfully pursued new growth opportunities and obtained strong market positions in each of our principal lines of business. In particular:

For the year ended December 31, 2019,2020, our operating revenue was￦24,88924,441 billion, our profit for the year was￦699746 billion and our basic earnings per share was￦2,648.2,858. As of December 31, 2019,2020, our total assets were￦34,15333,663 billion, total liabilities were￦19,00918,111 billion and total equity was￦15,14415,551 billion.

Mobile Services

We provide mobile services based on 5G, 4G LTE and 3GW-CDMA technology. We have made extensive efforts to continually develop advanced technologies as well as to provide a variety of new mobile services with enhanced speed, latency and connectivity. We commercially launched our next generation 5G mobile services with transmission speed of up to 1.5 Gbps in April 2019, initially focusing on the Seoul metropolitan area, six additional metropolitanand we have expanded our coverage to 85 major cities high-traffic commercial areas and university campuses as well as major transportation infrastructure such as highways, railways and airports.in Korea. We plan to further expand the coverage nationwide and increase the transmission speed of our 5G services. We believe that the faster data transmission speed and lower latency of the 5G network enables us to offer significantly enhanced wireless data transmission with faster access to multimedia contents. We began offering 4G LTE services in the Seoul metropolitan area in January 2012, and we completed the expansion of our coverage nationwide in October 2012. 4G LTE technology enables data to be transmitted faster than 3GW-CDMA technology, generally providing a downloading speed of approximately 50 Mbps per 10 MHz. Since our launch of 4G LTE services, we have acquired additional bandwidth licenses that have enabled us to further enhance the quality of our LTE services.technology.

We conduct the screening process for new subscribers with great caution. A potential subscriber must meet all minimum credit criteria before receiving mobile service. The procedure includes checking the history ofnon-payment and credit information from banks and credit agencies such as the National Information and Credit Evaluation Corporation. Applicants who do not meet the minimum criteria can only subscribe to the mobile service by using apre-paid card.

Fixed-line Services

We provide a variety of fixed-line services, including various telephone services, broadband Internet access and data communication services.

Fixed-line and VoIP Telephone Services

We utilize our extensive nationwide telephone network to provide fixed-line telephone services, which consist of local, domestic long-distance, international long-distance services andland-to-mobile