Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho has stepped down as the president of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics’ Organizing Committee, to save his debt-ridden shipping unit, the group said Tuesday.

“Chairman Cho has offered to resign from the (PyeongChang) post to resolve pending issues within the group including Hanjin Shipping,” Hanjin Group said in a statement. Hanjin’s shipping unit applied for restructuring by creditors last week after Cho gave up management rights to the company. 

Cho has been heading the POCOG since July 2014, when his predecessor Kim Jin-sun resigned citing the need for “new leadership.”

For nearly two years, Cho has helped to set preparations for the Olympics in motion, overseeing crises such as delays in stadium construction and changes in the events’ locations, the committee said in an official statement.

Olympic watchers, however, expressed concern that Cho’s resignation would cause disruptions to preparations for the Winter Games, which are less than two years away.

“We can’t deny that it will be difficult to have the top post empty, but we do not yet know when the Committee will name a replacement, or who it will be,” a spokesman for the Organizing Committee told The Korea Herald.

In the meantime, he said, it is likely that the committee’s Secretary-General Yeo Hyeong-gu will act as interim president, according to the structure of the Organizing Committee.

Despite his surprising departure, the chairman will continue to provide “full support” for the rest of the preparation process, said officials at Korean Air, the group’s air carrier unit. Cho will not be a part of the committee in any official capacity but will likely act as a consultant imparting the know-how he acquired during the bidding and preparation process for PyeongChang, he said.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)