Naver CEO denies short-term sale of Yahoo! shares

Naver CEO Choi Soo-young stated on the 2nd that the company has no plans to sell its Yahoo! shares to SoftBank in the short term.
On the same day, Choi, who attended the general meeting of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee as a witness, was told by Rep. Lee Hae-min of the Fatherland Reform Party, "Within a short period of time,
When asked, "Can you say for certain that you will not sell your shares?" he replied, "In the short term." Regarding plans to sell shares in the long term, he said, "As with all companies, we will consider selling shares in the medium to long term."
"It is difficult to give a definite answer about long-term strategic decisions, but considering security governance and the need to separate outsourced relationships, we have decided not to sell the company in the short term."
Choi's remarks will not affect Naver and SoftBank's stakes in A Holdings, Yahoo!'s largest shareholder, for the time being.
A Holdings owns about 65% of Yahoo!'s Line shares. Naver and SoftBank each own half of A Holdings' shares.
Lee Jung-ho, Minister of Science, ICT and Communications, said that Naver will take strong action against the Japanese government if it is treated unfairly in the LINE-Yahoo issue.
"It seems that Naver is making very sensitive business decisions on its own," Lee said. "If it faces unfair measures in the process, the government will take measures to ensure that Naver is not affected."
"We will respond proactively," he said. Kang Do-hyun, second vice minister of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Technology, emphasized that the ministry has been working closely with Naver on the past LINE-Yahoo issues.
Kang said, "The government has made a wide range of inquiries (to Naver) about countermeasures. For example, we held a Korea-Japan Information and Communications Vice Ministers' Meeting and we negotiated directly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (of Japan)."
"We discussed various alternative options, such as discussing the matter with the (South Korean) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and raising the issue with the Japanese Embassy in South Korea," he said.
Last November, a computer belonging to a Naver Cloud service provider was attacked by cyberattacks and was found to contain malicious code.
Some. It was pointed out that LINE Yahoo! shared some of its internal systems, which may have led to the leakage of more than 510,000 pieces of personal information.
In response, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications withdrew capital from LINE Yahoo! from March to April.
The government issued administrative guidance calling for a reexamination of the relationship, raising concerns within South Korea that LINE, which Naver had nurtured for many years, might be taken over by Japan.