Chief product officer who led unpopular Kakao Talk overhaul is leaving company

Hong Min-taek, chief product officer at Kakao, speaks at a presentation held in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on Sept. 23, 2025. [KAKAO]

Hong Min-taek, Kakao’s chief product officer who led the major overhaul of KakaoTalk that resulted in a surge of user complaints last year, is leaving the company.

Hong recently informed the company of the decision to resign and is currently going through departure procedures, according to industry insiders on Wednesday. The process is expected to be completed in early June.

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Hong, who previously worked at Viva Republica, operator of Toss, and later served as CEO of Toss Bank, joined Kakao in February last year and led the reorganization of KakaoTalk.