April 24, 2024

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Kumho-Asiana Group said on March 28 its chairman will resign from key managerial posts, holding himself responsible for the recent controversy over an audit report for Asiana Airlines.

Park Sam-koo will step down as group chairman and CEO of flagship Asiana Airlines and Kumho Industrial, the group’s holding company.

“Park made the decision to stand down to take responsibility for the audit uproar that sparked chaos in the market,” the group said.

Kumho-Asiana said it will tap an outside manager as group chairman as early as possible to put the ailing airline back on track.

Asiana’s auditor, Samil PwC, on March 26 upgraded its opinion on the airline’s 2018 annual report to “unqualified” from a “qualified opinion” issued a week ago.

An independent auditor issues a qualified opinion when it finds something wrong with the financial statements of a company or the company refuses to submit requested documents.

Kumho-Asiana also said Park met with Korea Development Bank Chairman and CEO Lee Dong-geol to request KDB’s cooperation in restoring investor confidence in Asiana.

Asiana owes 3.2 trillion won ($2.8 billion) to financial institutions and it has to repay 1 trillion won of the total this year, according to the company.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)