Having barely recovered from the infamous “nut rage” incident ignited by his daughter, Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho is being driven into a corner again by creditors demanding he take full responsibility for the debt-ridden container carrier Hanjin Shipping.

Requesting a creditor-led rehabilitation on Monday, the Hanjin Group chairman said he would surrender his managerial rights over the shipping unit. But the chairman did not mention whether he would use his own money to rescue the ailing company.

In the face of public criticism and mounting pressure from the government, however, Cho appears to be in a dilemma on whether to use his own fortune to salvage Hanjin Shipping.

For now, he seems to be reluctant to do so.

Cho refused to answer reporters when they asked him about his plans at the topping-out ceremony for Incheon International Airport’s second terminal on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Financial Services Commission chairman Yim Jong-yong pushed Cho hard, saying that major shareholders of troubled firms should bear the pain by offering money from their own pockets. Hanjin Shipping’s main creditor, Korea Development Bank, also returned the company’s application for rescue measures, saying it required a more detailed plan.

Hanjin Shipping said it would raise a total of 411.2 billion won ($357 million) through asset sales. But creditors remained skeptical, questioning the viability of the plan and taking the view that the group should have shown more sincere efforts in saving the firm, particularly considering the controlling family’s involvement in a flight disruption and staff abuse that sparked public rage, according to local reports.

In late 2014, Cho’s eldest daughter Hyun-ah forced a Korean Air flight departing from New York back to the gate out of her anger over macadamia nuts served in a bag, not on a plate, after physically abusing the crew. The Seoul High Court sentenced her to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years.

Hanjin Group reportedly discussed diverting Cho’s personal assets before submitting the application on Monday. But the group ended up submitting the plan without doing so, claiming that it has already made considerable efforts to turn the debt-ridden shipping unit around by injecting more than 1 trillion won after the chairman took over managerial rights from his sister-in-law two years ago.

Criticism on Choi Eun-yeong -- the widow of Cho’s younger brother Soo-ho -- is also mounting as she has been avoiding calls to offer her personal assets, estimated at 185 billion won, for the liquidity-ridden firm she ran until 2014. She is also suspected of insider trading by financial authorities. She was found to have divested her entire equity stake in Hanjin Shipping just before the firm reached out to creditors for help.

“The chairman has made desperate efforts to save Hanjin Shipping along with the support of the group’s affiliates including Hanjin KAL and Korean Air,” a Hanjin Group official was quoted by Maeil Economic Daily.

Despite the government’s strict warning, the legal grounds to push a controlling family to use personal assets to save a troubled firm are still weak, experts say. Such demands are based on social expectations that the family should take responsibility for management, rather than the law.

Creditors, however, are likely to push Cho and his family to directly share the burden on condition of agreeing with the self-rehabilitation plan. Industry watchers say Hanjin may have to follow Hyundai Merchant’s case wherein its chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun spent 30 billion won to support her ailing shipping unit.

The chairman is the largest shareholder of Hanjin KAL, parent company of Hanjin Group, holding a stake of 20.23 percent. Hanjin KAL also controls Korean Air, Korea’s largest air carrier that holds 33.23 percent in Hanjin Shipping. Cho’s three children each hold 2.49 percent in the parent company.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)