SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The business tycoon who led South Korea's organizing committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics quit on Tuesday amid escalating financial troubles at the business group his family controls.

In a statement confirming Cho Yang-ho's resignation, the second change in less than two years at the helm of the local organizing committee, Pyeongchang 2018 credited its outgoing president with getting preparations back on track and "managing critical issues" such as delayed venue construction, disputes over the location of the Olympic stadium and sponsorship.

Cho is chairman of the Hanjin Group, which controls Olympic sponsor Korean Air and a major shipping company struggling with heavy debt.

He said in the statement he couldn't continue with the Olympic job because he needs to focus on stabilizing Hanjin Shipping, South Korea's largest container carrier, which said last week that it will undergo a debt revamp program with creditors in its last-ditch efforts to stay in business.

An official at South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Cho's resignation had been accepted. The ministry official who didn't want to be named, citing office rules, declined to comment on how long it would take to appoint a new chief organizer for the 2018 Games.

Cho took over as president of Pyeongchang's organizing committee in July 2014, succeeding Kim Jin-sun, the former governor of the region.

"For the past two years, I have truly put forward my very best efforts to work with every member of the organizing committee to prepare a successful Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2018," Cho said in the statement. "I can proudly say that POCOG has become a strong team, and the challenges we have overcome have allowed us to achieve success at our first official test events this past February."

Pyeongchang organizers have faced a series of challenges in recent years, including the construction delays, local conflicts over venues and criticism about their financial planning, but preparations had seemed to turn a corner after the successful hosting of test events earlier this year in Olympic venues.

Gunilla Lindberg, head of the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission for the 2018 Winter Games, said the IOC respected Cho's decision and appreciated his cooperation in recent years.

"Under his leadership, the organizing committee has made great progress and has delivered very successful test events," Lindberg said. "There remain a number of important steps to be taken ahead of the games and the IOC remains confident that through our close cooperation with the Pyeongchang 2018 organizing committee these will be successfully addressed."

The announcement of Cho's resignation came on the same day the Olympic flame was set to land in Brazil, where problems in preparations have sometimes overshadowed the build up to the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

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Associated Press writer Youkyung Lee contributed to this report.