The headline transaction is tiny: 3,109 shares disposed off-market on 24 July at 52,700 won, worth 164m won, to employees who met the vesting conditions on restricted stock units. That is 0.001% of the company, and KT filed a formal material-event report to do it — including the broker's name.

The useful content is the treasury table underneath. KT held 13,889,877 of its own shares, 5.51% of the 252,021,685 issued. During 2026 it acquired 3,071,295 through a trust arrangement running from 10 March to 9 September and disposed of 108,040. The retirement column is empty: nothing has been cancelled.

That matters for anyone reading KT's commitment to repurchase and cancel 750bn won of stock across 2026 to 2028. Shares cancelled are gone permanently; shares held in treasury can be reissued, as this filing itself demonstrates. The buying has happened. The cancelling has not, and in Korea it requires its own separate disclosure — the same share-cancellation resolution (주식소각결정) form KB and Shinhan each filed in July.