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Webtoon Entertainment reshuffles leadership in bid to bolster global presence

Published: 14 Apr. 2026, 16:32

LEE SOO-JUNG
[email protected]

Logo of Webtoon Entertainment [WEBTOON ENTERTAINMENT]

Webtoon Entertainment, the U.S. headquarters of Korean search engine Naver’s webtoon service Naver Webtoon, on Monday announced a reshuffling of its executive and managerial positions to bolster its global presence in the web comics and entertainment industry.

Monday's appointment replaced the chief product officer, the president of web-novel platform Wattpad and top positions in the company's AI and intellectual property (IP) businesses. The role of chief business officer was newly established.

Chae Yu-ki, an executive at Naver Webtoon, was named the new chief product officer, responsible for integrating the corporation’s global product road map. Chae is expected to design company-wide innovation and product strategies.

Chae formerly led product operations and managed Naver Webtoon's English service “Webtoon” and Japanese service “Line Manga,” as well as at two Korean services.

For the newly installed chief business officer position, Webtoon Entertainment recruited Yeon Go-eun. Yeon will oversee the corporation’s worldwide webcomic platform business — except in Japan — as well as marketing, content and creator management.

Yeon is a seasoned business expert who previously worked at Woowa Brothers, a major food delivery platform in Korea, and founded a lifestyle-brand enterprise called Simply O.

David J Lee will assume the role of Wattpad president and maintain his incumbent duty as global chief financial officer for Webtoon Entertainment. His dual role will help the company focus more on ad-supported free content and expand its global readership and writer base.

Naver acquired Wattpad in 2021.

Jang Tae-yeong will oversee the utilization of and operations related to AI. Jang is tasked with building on the corporation’s current AI capability, ranging from content protection and antipiracy innovations to content discovery. He will also direct the AI application in the translation program to help creators connect with new audiences.

Jang has served in a leadership role at the company’s machine learning and AI service teams since 2021. He had also worked as a software engineer at Samsung Electronics.

Kim Shin-hyung will direct the IP business across Webtoon Entertainment's platforms and subsidiaries. His focus is expected to be on building an IP pipeline that can extend across mainstream media and commerce platforms, such as television, film, gaming and merchandise.

"We’re making bold changes to sharpen execution and move faster as an aligned global organization," said Kim Yong-soo, president of Webtoon Entertainment. “We’re not done evolving, and we’re not slowing down."

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]