Korean Air executive vice president Cho Won-tae was named to concurrently head Hanjin Kal, the holding company of Hanjin Group, company officials said Tuesday.

The appointment is seen as the conglomerate’s move to speed up Cho’s succession of the group control from his father Cho Yang-ho, who is currently chairman of the group.

Hanjin Group, Korea’s 13th-largest conglomerate in terms of assets, has several transportation-related companies, including the nation’s largest flag carrier Korean Air.

The conglomerate announced the junior Cho’s appointment in its reshuffle that promoted a total of 25 executives.

Among them, Cho Hyun-min, the youngest daughter of chairman Cho, was promoted to senior vice president from vice president of Korean Air. Her major tasks are communications and PR activities.

Chairman Cho’s eldest daughter Hyun-ah is currently working as executive vice president of Korean Air.

The group also appointed Seo Yong-won, senior executive vice president of Korean Air, as president of Hanjin Corp.

The conglomerate’s shake-up was made after it announced a package of rescue plans last week. Hanjin said it would raise a total of 5.5 trillion won by selling properties and old aircraft to reduce some affiliates’ heavy debt.

The rescue plan included selling 2.3 billion won worth of shares of refiner S-Oil that are held by Hanjin Energy.

By Kim Joo-hyun (jhk@heraldcorp.com)