[Courtesy of Hanjin Group]
The children of Cho Yang-ho who controls South Korea's Hanjin Group await an important ruling by anti-trust regulators over alleged illegal business practices as the family-run conglomerate steps up the dynastic transfer of leadership.
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an investigation into Korean Air's unlisted affiliates, Uniconverse and CyberSky, for inter-subsidiary transactions. An FTC decision will come in September.
Group boss Cho Yang-ho and his three children had controlled a 100 percent stake in the two units which are suspected of securing illegal gains through "preferred" contracts with Korean Air. Uniconverse is a telecom service provider while CyberSky publishes Korean Air's promotional magazines and operate an online duty-free shop.
Anti-trust regulators restrict unfair trading among the units of South Korean conglomerates. Cho's children sold their stake in CyberSky in November last year.
The Hanjin group patriarch has stepped up a third-generation succession since his daughter, Cho Hyun-Ah, resigned as Korean Air's vice president after a "nut rage" incident in December 2014 that tarnished the group's reputation.
This year, the patriarch's only son, Cho won-tae, and his youngest daughter, Cho Hyun-min, have secured key posts in Korean Air and other units.
Cho Yang-ho and his family are under pressure to donate their personal wealth for the restructuring of Hanjin Shipping which has been kept afloat with an injection of money from Korean Air and other units.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
