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The controversial Korean Air Lines president, Cho Yang-ho, died Sunday in a Los Angeles hospital, the company said on Monday.
Cho, who was also chairman of the Hanjin Group, one of South Korea's largest family conglomerates, died as a result of a lung disease. He was 70 years old.
Cho presided over a turbulent period at Korean Air, which was hit by a series of scandals involving his family.
The Cho family made the headlines in 2014 when Cho Hyun-ah, daughter of the president and vice president of Korean Air, forced a plane to return to her boarding gate because she was upset by the way his fools had been served. She was later charged with interfering with aviation security and was imprisoned.
More recently, family members, including the president, have been involved in scandals involving accusations of corruption, embezzlement and smuggling. Last year, Cho was charged with embezzlement and breach of trust. He denied the charges against him.
Hanjin also faced a challenge from South Korea's first national activist fund, Korea Corporate Governance Improvement, which called on the airline's parent company to set up an independent committee to appoint management. KCGI is also pushing the Hanjin Group to sell its underperforming hotel chain and reduce debt to create value for investors.
At the end of last year, the fund took a significant stake in Hanjin KAL, the holding company that owns the airline.
Cho's death came two weeks after he was ousted from the meeting room of the country's biggest airline because of his embezzlement.
The outgoing president of Hanjin had been working in the airline industry all his life since his father, Cho Choong-hoon, had acquired and privatized Korean Air 50 years ago. Cho Yang-ho was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the airline in 1999.
He is survived by his wife, Lee Myung-hee, and his son, Won-tae, his daughters, Hyun-ah and Hyun-min and five grandchildren.
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