The owners of Kumho Group were on the verge of losing their management rights of the company because they failed to put up their shareholdings as collateral to the creditor, the Korea Development Bank (KDB), by February 7, 2010. The Kumho family, divided into four brothers, was fighting over the management of the company last year. This eventually resulted in a compulsory dismissal of the chairman of Korea Kumho Petrochemical, Inc. (KKPC), Park Chan-Goo, who is the youngest child of the aforementioned brotherhood. The Ex-chairman Park Sam-Goo, the third child, maintains controls over the entire Kumho Group.
Consequently, Park Chan-Goo and his son refused to put their shareholdings to the creditor unless they got their management rights of KKPC. Furthermore, to make the case worse, Park Chul-Wan, the son of Park Jung-Goo, who is the second child of the owner's family and passed away 8 years ago, also refused his shareholdings (about 1/4 of the entire shares) until he receives his own management rights. Up until now, Park Sam-Goo and his son, Park Se-Chang, seemed to have full control over the entire group, but now, his family is deemed to lose control. Under the agreement among the family and with the KDB, KKPC will be managed by Park Chan-Goo and Park Chul-Wan, Kumho Tires Co., Inc. will be managed by Park Sam-Goo and his son, and the rest of Kumho's affiliated companies, such as Asiana Airline, Korea Express Co., Ltd., and Kumho Industrial Co., Inc., will be under the control of creditors.
