The appointments, ratified at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting at the Kakao AI Campus in Yongin, south of Seoul, follow the firm's acquisition by a special purpose vehicle funded by LY, or Line Yahoo, the operator of the Line messenger.
Kim spent years at Nexon, holding senior strategy and business-development roles across its Korean, Japanese and U.S. arms before joining Line Games in 2023. He will oversee long-term strategy, global expansion and mergers.
Lee, a founding-era executive, will run live-service operations, new releases and the firm's intellectual-property portfolio.
"Aggressive investment and innovation are essential to compete in a fiercely contested global market," Kim said, pledging to harness the company's strengthened capital base to accelerate overseas growth.
LY's investment vehicle, LAAA Investment, became the largest shareholder last week with a 33.43 percent stake, after injecting about 300 billion won ($194.9 million) through a share purchase, a rights offering and convertible bonds.
The company's chief financial officer damped speculation of a full merger with Line Games, saying no decision had been made, though he flagged room for business cooperation and signaled a push into Southeast Asia using Line's regional platform.
The shake-up unseats former chief executive Han Sang-woo, who departs after roughly two years. A minority shareholders' group used the meeting to demand a clearer return policy and the disclosure of launch dates for key upcoming titles, including Odin Q: Valkyrie's Call and ArcheAge Chronicles.
Kakao Games separately named Sungkyunkwan University professor Lim Tay-seop as an outside director and Petrichor Partners executive Seo Seok-ho as a non-executive director.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.
