Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho passes away
Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho died from a chronic lung disease, said Korean Air, a Hanjin affiliate, Monday. He was 70. Courtesy of Korean Air
By Park Si-soo, Kim Hyun-bin
Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho died from a chronic lung disease, Korean Air, a Hanjin affiliate, announced in a statement on Monday. He was 70.
Korean Air didn't specify the disease. The company said Cho had been receiving treatment at a hospital in Los Angeles since December.
The process of transporting his body to Korea and the funeral schedule will be announced soon, it said.
Korean Air President Cho Won-tae, the late chairman's only son, is reportedly in Los Angeles.
Cho Yang-ho's death came 13 days after he lost his board seat at Korea Air after shareholders voted down his reappointment amid a slew of scandals haunting him and family members. He didn't attend the meeting.
Shareholders voted 64.1 percent in favor of the reappointment but fell short of the necessary two-thirds threshold by 2.5 percent points as 35.9 percent voted against him.
The incident marks the first time shareholders have voted to strip the company's chief of a board seat. Cho had governed Korean Air since 1999.
Born in 1949 in Incheon, west of Seoul, Cho entered Korean Air in 1974. He quickly climbed up the corporate ladder to become the president of the company in 1992 and chairman of Hanjin Group in 2003. His father, Cho Choong-hoon, founded the companies.
He is survived by his wife and three children.
Turbulent life
The Hanjin owner family has been under intense public criticism in recent years for their misbehavior.
Cho himself was on trial for alleged embezzlement and breach of trust.
In 2014, Cho’s oldest daughter Hyun-ah made international headlines after ordering a Korean Air plane back to its gate at a New York airport for losing her temper for how her macadamia nuts were served in the first class cabin.
Cho’s youngest daughter, Hyun-min, allegedly threw a glass filled with water at an advertisement firm employee during a business meeting. Both resigned from their executive posts after their scandals.
The Seoul Central District Court was scheduled to open the first hearing, Tuesday, of the chairman’s wife Lee Myung-hee and their eldest daughter for illegally hiring foreign housekeepers.
The two are accused of illegally hiring 11 Filipino housekeepers from 2013 to early last year under the carrier-sponsored traineeship visas.