Hanjin Group’s new chairman Cho Won-tae (image: Hanjin Group)
SEOUL, Apr. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The only son of late Korean Air Lines Co. Chairman Cho Yang-ho was named as new chief of Hanjin Group, the airline’s parent company, the logistics-centered group said Wednesday.
The board of Hanjin KAL, the group’s holding company, appointed Cho Won-tae, 44, as the group’s new chairman, replacing his late father.
Hanjin Group has Hanjin KAL, Korean Air, budget carrier Jin Air Co. and several other companies under its wing.
The appointment comes nearly three weeks after the elder Cho died of a chronic lung disease while receiving treatment in the United States on April 8.
“The appointment is to minimize the leadership vacuum following the death of former Chairman Cho at Hanjin Group and keep the group’s business management in a stable condition,” the group said in a statement.
The new chairman also serves as president and chief operating officer of Korean Air.
Korean Air, the country’s leading airline, is expected to hold a board meeting sooner or later to name him as new chairman and chief executive officer of the national flag carrier, a company spokesman said.
His late father served as chairman and CEO of Korean Air. He had a controlling 17.84 percent stake in the holding firm.
The late chairman was removed from Korean Air’s board at a March 27 shareholders meeting amid a string of probes into him and his family members for using their superior positions to mistreat subordinates and growing calls to change the country’s 14th-biggest conglomerate’s leadership.
The ouster was the first time a founding family member of any South Korean conglomerate was forced out of a key post through a vote by shareholders.
(Yonhap)
