Former Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-kwan is returning to Webzen's management.

Webzen announced in a regulatory filing on the 14th that it will hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on December 12th to propose the appointment of Kim Byung-kwan as an executive director.

Kim is the largest shareholder of Webzen, holding a 27% stake. After founding Solution Holdings in 2000, he became the CEO of NHN Games in 2005. Five years later, when NHN Games was merged into Webzen, he became the CEO and largest shareholder of Webzen.

He stepped down from management in 2016 to enter politics by running for the 20th National Assembly. However, he was defeated in the 21st National Assembly election in 2020 and the by-election in 2022.

Industry insiders analyze that Kim's return is aimed at overcoming Webzen's management crisis and discovering new IPs. Webzen's revenue for the first half of this year was 80.7 billion KRW, a 25% decrease compared to the same period last year. Operating profit was 15.1 billion KRW, a 49% drop year-on-year.