Jeon Byeong-eal, the CEO of POSCO’s trading subsidiary Daewoo International, quit Tuesday after a protracted feud with the steelmaker over an overseas natural gas project.

He announced his resignation while attending at a meeting of board of directors of the trading company in Seoul.

“Having thought about what would be the future-oriented measure for the group, the company and all those concerned, I concluded that resigning is the quickest way to end the situation,” Jeon said.

The outgoing CEO had been under pressure from POSCO since he openly disapproved in May of the steelmaker‘s plan to sell off its stake in a natural gas project in Myanmar as part of its restructuring efforts.

According to reports, POSCO was seeking to sell the stake in the gas project for 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion).

However, industry watchers have raised concerns that the sale would result in little actual gains for the steelmaker due to the hefty tax levied by the Myanmar government.

Last week, Jeon stated that he would announce his future course of action and that he felt responsible for the developments regarding the gas project sale plans.

“Regardless of the details, I feel responsible for raising worries among employees and shareholders by making it appear as though there was discord regarding the restructuring,” Jeon said.

He also said that he concluded that he should not cause further trouble for the organization.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)