Tag: Heather Cho

It seems pretty clear that the brother is trying to sideline her because of the bad publicity her presence would bring. With that said people need to get over the whole “nut rage” incident. She was vilified, sent to jail, lost her job, humiliated, and then even divorced by her husband. I think she has been punished enough for turning a plane around at the airport:

Cho Hyun-ah, former Korean Air executive vice president, accused her younger brother Monday of not leading Hanjin Group in accordance with their father’s dying injunctions, signaling a sibling feud over control of the logistics-centered conglomerate.

Cho, who is notorious for her 2014 “nut rage” incident, released a statement via her legal representative, claiming that Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Won-tae is not following their father’s instructions regarding group management.

“Our father wanted the family to run the business together, but Hanjin Group is currently neglecting his last words,” Hyun-ah said through her legal representative. 

Former Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho died of a chronic lung disease in Los Angeles in April at the age of 70.

Their feud surfaced in May when the board of Hanjin KAL, the group’s holding company, belatedly named Won-tae as the group’s new chairman reorganized by the Fair Trade Act. Hyun-ah and her sister Hyun-min allegedly disagreed with their brother.

The three seemed to have reached a consensus when Won-tae told reporters that the three have ironed out their differences and agreed to work together. However, Hyun-ah has not yet returned to the family-run business. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Not only has Heather Cho been vilified, sent to jail, and lost her job because of the “nut rage” incident now she is getting divorced and may lose custody of her kids:

Cho Hyun-ah, former executive of Korean Air, who made global headlines with the infamous nut rage scandal, faces a divorce lawsuit from her husband of eight years.

According to legal sources on Monday, Cho’s husband filed a divorce suit to Seoul Family Court on April 2, and requested custody of their children.

Cho hasn’t yet appointed an attorney and the trial date hasn’t been set, Yonhap reported.

Cho and her husband, the head of a famous cosmetic surgery practice in Gangnam, married in 2010 and had twins.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link.

The Washington Post has an interesting in-depth update on the key players from the infamous “Nut-Rage” incident in South Korea:

Cho Hyun-ah, the Korean Air heiress who achieved global notoriety in the 2014 “nut rage” incident, returned to the public eye last month, accompanying her father as he ran with the Olympic torch when the relay passed through Seoul.

Korean Air is an official partner of the Winter Games, which open in PyeongChang on Friday, and Cho’s father is the chairman of the company — called “owner” in Korean because, although it is publicly listed, the company is in many ways still operated like a family business.

Running with her father and sister, Cho wore an official gray PyeongChang tracksuit and a smile.

Park Chang-jin is also trying to put on a smile these days. He was the chief flight attendant on Korean Air Flight 86 from New York to Seoul the day of the fracas over nut service in the first-class cabin, and his life has not been the same since.

“I loved my job, but then suddenly this incident with Ms. Cho happened,” Park said in an interview in Seoul. “I lost everything at that moment because someone who had power over me had this emotional outburst.”  (…..)

When Park returned to work, he had to renew all his qualifications after more than a year off. He was repeatedly given failing grades on language tests — in Korean and in English — and began to suspect it was deliberate. He was assigned to economy class and often given the most menial tasks, including cleaning the toilets.  [Washington Post]

You can read the rest at the link, but Cho’s sister has taken over her responsibilities at Korea Air and is reportedly the one leading the revenge against the flight attendant Park Chang-jin.

Hopefully this will be the last we hear about the Nut-Rage case:

The top court upheld a lower court ruling that acquitted former Korean Air Executive Vice President Heather Cho, Thursday, of the “nut rage” case three years ago that triggered nationwide outrage over the rich and powerful abusing their positions.
Cho is the eldest daughter of Chairman Cho Yang-ho of Korean Air, the country’s largest full-service carrier.

In the first 13-member full-panel ruling deliberated by the 13 Supreme Court justices including chief justice Kim Meong-su after he took the top post, the court said she did not violate aviation law by ordering the plane to change its air route, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

“The air route, the point of contention here, should be interpreted as referring to the aircraft’s course when it is flying, not when it is taxiing on the ground,” the court said.
“The lower court’s ruling was apt in making such a determination, and there was no misinterpretation of the law that requires a review.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but this whole incident seemed to me to be all about over charging her to appease public sentiment and then quietly letting the appeals court over turn the conviction.  Remember Korea is a rule by law and not a rule of law society.  This case is a perfect example of it.

Imagine how much money Soldiers could make if they could sue superiors who yell at them for stupid stuff? That is basically what is going on with this lawsuit against former Korean Air executive Heather Cho:

A New York court has dismissed a suit filed by “nut rage” incident victim Park Chang-jin against former Korean Air heiress and Executive Vice President Heather Cho (Korean name – Cho Hyun-ah), sources said Friday.

Previously, the same court dismissed a case brought by Kim Do-hee, a junior flight attendant over the incident.

Claiming that he suffered from a severe physical and mental breakdown after the incident, Park filed a suit with the Queens County Supreme Court in New York against Cho in July.

The written decision for the dismissal was not disclosed but experts said it was likely to follow the precedent of Kim who also sued Cho on the same charges last March.

In Kim’s case, Robert L. Nahman, a judge in charge on the U.S. Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Queens, reportedly said upon the dismissal last month that it would be better if a Korean court dealt with the case because the plaintiff, the defendants and witnesses reside in Korea and all evidence is in Korea as well.

A series of the dismissals from the U.S court seemed to reflect Cho’s repeated requests insisting the New York court dismiss the suit so that she can stand trial in Korea.

Cho offered some 100 million won ($82,433) to Park and Kim through a Korean court to settle the case during her trial last year. But neither took the money and filed separate lawsuits in the U.S. instead.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I would be very surprised if the appeals court ruling acquitting Cho is overturned because really is what she did worthy of going to jail for a whole year?:

South Korean prosecutors on Thursday appealed a court decision that acquitted the eldest daughter of Korean Air’s chairman of disrupting a flight in a rage over macadamia nuts.

Cho Hyun-Ah, who had been in jail since her arrest in December, walked free last week after an appeals court overturned her conviction for violating aviation safety laws.

The prosecutor’s office in Seoul announced that it had submitted an appeal with the Supreme Court to reverse the verdict.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link.

The Korean Air heiress at the center of the Nut Rage case is not going down without a fight:

The eldest daughter of Korean Air Lines Co.’s chairman on Friday appealed a court decision that found her guilty of violating air safety and other laws, court officials said.

Cho Hyun-ah, former vice president of the nation’s top carrier, was convicted a day earlier of changing the planned route of a flight, intimidating and assaulting a flight attendant, and obstructing the business of the airline.

She was sentenced to one year in jail despite her repeated apologies to the judges, which she hoped would earn her a suspended jail term.

On Dec. 5, Cho ordered a senior crew member off the Korean Air flight headed to Incheon from New York because of the way she was served nuts. The plane had already been taxiing with 250 passengers on board. She said she was upset that her macadamia nuts were provided in an unopened packet rather than on a plate, which, according to the then vice president of cabin service, violated the proper nut-serving protocol.

The Seoul Western District Court in charge of the case said Cho’s attorney submitted an appeal Friday afternoon.

“The decision misconstrued facts and the principle of aviation law,” attorney Seo Chang-hui said. “We also believe the sentence is unjustified.”  [Yonhap]

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.  Maybe this is what was planned all along, convict her for one year then appeal, and then wait for the media attention to die down.  Once the media attention dies down quietly let her win the appeal and release her for time served.

Via a reader tip comes this news that sentence for Heather Cho who was at the center of the Nut Rage case has been announced:

An onboard tantrum dubbed “nut rage” culminated Thursday in a one-year prison sentence for Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah, a humiliating rebuke that only partially quelled public outrage at the excesses of South Korea’s business elite.

Cho, the daughter of Korean Air’s chairman, achieved worldwide notoriety after she ordered the chief flight attendant off a Dec. 5 flight, forcing it to return to the gate at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

Head of cabin service at the time of the incident, Cho was angered she had been offered macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a dish. A heated and physical confrontation with members of the crew in first class ensued.

A Seoul court said Cho, 40, was guilty of forcing a flight to change its route, obstructing the flight’s captain in the performance of his duties, forcing a crew member off a plane and assaulting a crew member. It found her not guilty of interfering with a transport ministry investigation into the incident. Cho pleaded not guilty and prosecutors had called for three years in prison.

Cho, in custody since Dec. 30, wiped away tears with a tissue as a letter expressing her remorse was read to the court by head judge Oh Seong-woo.

It included details about how Cho, one of the richest women in South Korea who regularly flew first class, was adjusting to the basic conditions in prison and reflecting on her life. “I know my faults and I’m very sorry,” Cho said in her letter.  [Associated Press]

You can read the rest at the link, but I am surprised she received that much time in prison.  Usually you see these business tycoons get rolled into the court in wheelchairs claim they are sick, show their remorse, and then receive suspended sentences.  Maybe Cho should have come to court in a wheelchair because by Korean business tycoon standards she got slammed pretty good for what she did.  This just goes to show what a nerve she struck with the Korean public that no one in the legal or political circles were willing to stick their necks out to help her.  With that all said, with time served and good behavior she will likely be quietly released from prison in a few months.

I don’t have much sympathy for Heather Cho, but to send her to jail for three for this is ridiculous when rapists in South Korea get less time or no time at all:

Prosecutors demanded a three-year prison term for former Korean Air Executive Vice President Heather Cho at her trial over the “nut rage” incident, Monday.

This came after the prosecution concluded she forced a flight from JFK International Airport in New York to change course, an allegation that has a maximum sentence of 10 years.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes this news that the daughter of the Chairman of Korean Air decided to have a airplane returned to the gate to boot a stewardess she was unhappy with:

The daughter of Korean Air Lines Co. Chairman Cho Yang Ho ordered a plane back to the gate so she could remove a crew member who gave an incorrect answer to a question on how to serve macadamia nuts, the airline said.

Heather Cho, 40, a vice president of the airline, ordered the head of the service crew on Flight 86 from New York to Seoul to deplane after an attendant earlier had served Cho macadamia nuts without asking, the carrier said. Cho then summoned the purser to ask a question about the airline’s policy on serving nuts. Cho ordered the man to leave the plane when he couldn’t answer. Under the carrier’s rules, passengers must be asked first before serving.

The purser didn’t know the company’s procedures and “kept on making up lies and excuses,” Korean Air said in a separate statement late yesterday.

The aircraft had already left the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport for takeoff on Dec. 5. It took no more than 2 minutes to return to the gate to deplane the crew member, according to the airline. The flight was 11 minutes late when it arrived in Seoul on Dec. 6.

Korean Air in its statement late yesterday apologized to passengers for the inconvenience the incident caused. It noted the plane was less than 10 meters from the gate at JFK when the decision to return was made.  [BusinessWeek]

You can read more at the link, but I can understand her unhappiness because serving nuts for example to a kid without asking could cause an allergic reaction and open the airline to a lawsuit.  So I understand where she is coming from, but with that said what gives her the right to turn around a plane?  Shouldn’t the pilots due to an emergency be the ones to make that decision?  I would not classify this as an emergency and just something that the airline could of took care when the plane arrived back in Korea.