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‘Nut rage’ exec gets 1-year prison sentence
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A South Korean court yesterday sentenced the daughter of Korean Air’s chairman to a year in prison, after finding her guilty over an onboard incident in New York concerning the way she was served nuts in first class.
Cho Hyun-ah, the airline’s former head of in-flight service, violated the law by ordering the plane to return to the gate after it started to taxi on December 5, the court ruled.
Cho had demanded the flight crew chief be expelled from the flight after she was served macadamia nuts in a bag, and not on a dish. The South Korea-bound plane, which had started to move away from the gate, had to return.
The so-called “nut rage” episode triggered scorn and outrage in a country whose economy is dominated by family-run conglomerates known as chaebol, and where many locals are fed up with the rich and powerful escaping punishment for bad behavior.
“This is a case where human dignity was trampled upon,” Judge Oh Sung-woo said.
The court said it took into account that Cho was the mother of 20-month-old twins and had already suffered, but added that her conduct had seriously harmed the victims.
Cho, 40, has been in custody since December 30.
“It’s my understanding that she is repenting,” said her lawyer, Suh Chang-hee, adding that he will discuss whether to appeal against the ruling. Korean Air declined to comment.
In a letter to the court read out by the judge, Cho said she was “truly sorry to those who were hurt.”
Wearing green prison uniform, Cho hung her head as the judge read the verdict. She cried when the judge read her apology letter.
Prosecutors had sought a three-year prison term if Cho was convicted of breaking aviation law and another charge of using her position to obstruct due process. The court found her not guilty on the second charge, but sentenced another executive to eight months in prison for trying to interfere in the government investigation.
Choi Jin-nyoung, a spokesman of the Korean Bar Association, said he had expected Cho to be sentenced to up to two years in prison, as a year is the minimum for aviation law violations.
“The court makes a decision based on sentencing guidelines, so chaebol people don’t get suspended sentences like they did in the past,” he said.
Cho is the oldest of the three children of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho.
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