Hanta Family Eldest Son Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sik Resigns as CEO of Korea & Company as Promised

President Cho Hyun-beom as Sole CEO

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Cho Hyun-sik, the eldest son of the Korean Tire family and Vice Chairman of Hankook & Company, stepped down from his position as CEO on the 12th. Prior to the recent shareholders' meeting, Cho had promised that he would resign as CEO if the outside director and audit committee member he proposed were appointed.

Hankook & Company announced that with Cho Hyun-sik's resignation as CEO, President Cho Hyun-beom now holds the sole CEO position.

Earlier, in February, Cho had made a shareholder proposal stating that he would step down as CEO if Professor Lee Han-sang of Korea University was appointed as an outside director and audit committee member at the shareholders' meeting.

At that time, Cho explained, "I feel a great responsibility for the appearance of conflict between the founder's descendants and the company's major shareholders," adding, "I am announcing my intention to resign to fundamentally break the chain of management disputes that could damage the company's reputation."

Subsequently, at the Hankook & Company regular shareholders' meeting held on the 30th of last month, Professor Lee was appointed as an audit committee member and outside director, defeating Kim Hye-kyung, former Blue House Secretary for Women and Family Affairs, who was recommended by the company side including the second son, President Cho Hyun-beom.

Currently, Cho Hyun-sik has no separate statement regarding his resignation as CEO. It is also reported that he has not consulted with his elder sister Cho Hee-kyung, Chairwoman of the Hankook Tire Sharing Foundation, who filed for adult guardianship of their father, Chairman Cho Yang-rae. Regarding this, KL Partners, the law firm that previously represented Cho Hyun-sik, stated, "Our contract with Mr. Cho ended after the shareholders' meeting, so we cannot provide any comments."

However, Cho's resignation is interpreted as fulfilling his promise to the shareholders. After the Hankook & Company shareholders' meeting, there were concerns in the industry that Cho might not keep his promise as he did not step down as CEO for more than ten days.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.