The KT board's plan to reappoint CEO Ku Hyeon-mo is causing an intensifying conflict with the National Pension Service (NPS), the telecom firm's largest shareholder under government control, according to industry officials, Friday. Earlier this month, the NPS lowered its stake in KT to 9.99 percent from 10.12 percent. Its decision was attributed to the regulation that forces shareholders with more than a 10-percent stake to return their short-swing profits to companies they invested in, if those shareholders change the purpose of their investments to “interference in management.”