Kim, who had been the joint chairman of the bid committee along with Cho,  was unable to stand in the Elections held in Gangwon Province earlier this month because he had already served three terms as Governor.

He was replaced by Lee Kwang-jae, a member of the Democratic Party who came from behind in the opinion polls to suprsingly win.

Cho, who was educated at the University of Southern California, will become the chairman and chief executive of Pyeongchang 2018 and lead a delegation to Lausanne next week where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are due to announce which cities have been short-listed for 2018.

Annecy and Munich are also bidding.

Kim was the inspiration behind Pyeongchang's two previous bids which on each occasion narrowly failed to win.

In 2003 they lost out for the 2010 Olympics to Vancouver and in 2007 to Sochi for 2014.

But a role is set to be found for Kim so he will remain involved in the bid.