Bad habits
Court
Orders Arrest of Ex-Executive at Korean Airlines Over ‘Nut Rage’
Photo
Journalists surrounded
Cho Hyun-ah, a former Korean Airlines executive, at a court in Seoul on
Tuesday.CreditJung Yeon-Je/Agence
France-Presse — Getty Images
SEOUL, South Korea — A
court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for a former Korean Airlines
executive whose tantrum over a bag of nuts halted a flight at a New York
airport this month and made her a target of national outrage at South Korea’s powerful business
dynasties.
The Seoul Western
District Court ordered the arrest of the former executive, Cho Hyun-ah, 40, who
will probably face charges of assaulting flight attendants and disrupting the
performance of their duties. The charges stem from an episode on Dec. 5 when
Ms. Cho delayed the departure of a Korean Air flight from Kennedy International
Airport after a flight attendant in first class served her macadamia nuts in a
bag instead of the required bowl.
According to
witnesses, Ms. Cho flew into a rage, demanding that the aircraft, which had
already left the gate, return so that the offending crew member could be kicked
off. Ms. Cho’s outburst has become known as “nut rage,” making her and the
airline objects of mockery abroad.
It also made her the
target of angry derision back in South Korea, where Ms. Cho is the scion of one
of the wealthy families that control much of South Korea’s export-driven
economy. Her father, the chairman of the family-run Korean Air, stripped her of
her posts at the airline and also an affiliated hotel chain, and apologized for
failing to raise her properly. On Tuesday, she arrived at the court in Seoul
dressed in black, her face hung low in shame.
However, her shows of
contrition have not been enough to appease public anger at the episode, which
struck a nerve in a country that harbors deep unease at the domination of major
industries by a handful of family-run business groups, known as chaebol. This
has made many South Koreans particularly sensitive to what they see as arrogant
or overbearing behavior by members of those families, and particularly young
heirs like Ms. Cho.
Ms. Cho was a vice
president in charge of cabin service when she was served the unopened bag of
nuts on the flight bound for Seoul’s main international airport in Incheon.
Forcing the plane back to the gate caused an 11-minute delay for the aircraft’s
250 passengers, the South Korean news media say.
The news media here
report that the airline at first brushed aside the episode, saying it was Ms.
Cho’s job to discipline flight attendants. But the authorities also believe the
company was trying to protect her by urging employees to tell a less
incriminating version of events. On Tuesday, the court also ordered the arrest
of another Korean Air executive, who is expected to be charged with forcing
flight attendants to give false testimony and ordering a flight attendant to
delete an email about what happened.
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