The business tycoon who led South Korea’s organizing committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics yesterday quit amid escalating financial troubles at the business group his family controls.
In a statement confirming Cho Yang-ho’s resignation, the second change in less than two years at the helm of the local organizing committee, Pyeongchang 2018 credited its outgoing president with getting preparations back on track and “managing critical issues,” such as delayed venue construction, disputes over the location of the Olympic stadium and sponsorship.
Cho is chairman of the Hanjin Group, which controls Olympic sponsor Korean Air and a major shipping company struggling with heavy debt.
Photo: AFP
He said in the statement that he could not continue with the Olympic job because he needs to focus on stabilizing Hanjin Shipping, South Korea’s largest container carrier, which last week said it would undergo a debt revamp program with creditors in its last-ditch efforts to stay in business.
An official at South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Cho’s resignation had been accepted. The ministry official who did not want to be named, citing office rules, declined to comment on how long it would take to appoint a new chief organizer for the 2018 Games.
Cho took over as president of Pyeongchang’s organizing committee in July 2014, succeeding former Pyeongchang governor Kim Jin-sun.
“For the past two years, I have truly put forward my very best efforts to work with every member of the organizing committee to prepare a successful Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018,” Cho said in the statement. “I can proudly say that [the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games] has become a strong team, and the challenges we have overcome have allowed us to achieve success at our first official test events this past February.”
Pyeongchang organizers have faced a series of challenges in recent years, including construction delays, local conflicts over venues and criticism about their financial planning, but preparations had seemed to turn a corner after the successful hosting of test events earlier this year in Olympic snow venues.
The announcement of Cho’s resignation came on the same day the Olympic flame was set to land in Brazil, where problems in preparations have sometimes overshadowed the build up to the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.
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