Supreme court upholds suspended term for former Korean Air vice president

By Lim Chang-won Posted : December 21, 2017, 15:18 Updated : December 21, 2017, 15:18

[Aju News DB]


SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Aju News) -- South Korea's highest court upheld a suspended jail term for Cho Hyun-ah who resigned as Korean Air's vice president after a "nut rage" incident that tarnished the reputation of the country's top flag carrier.

The 43-year-old was given a twelve-month prison sentence on conviction of violating aviation safety laws in December 2014, but an appeals court overturned the conviction, allowing her to walk free in May 2015 after she served five months in jail.

The appellate court sentenced Cho to 10 months in prison but suspended the term for two years, saying she was only found guilty of verbally and physically abusing cabin crew. The decision sparked a harsh debate over the dictionary definition of air routes.

She became enraged when a flight attendant served her some nuts in a bag, rather than on a plate, on board a flight that was forced back to the gate while taxiing to the runway. The incident fueled public anger as it followed a slew of incidents involving group owners and their offsprings.

Cho Hyun-ah was among the children in the running to replace her father and Korean Air boss Cho Yang-ho, who also heads the Hanjin Group. But she fell off the ladder as the incident hurt Korean Air's reputation, forcing her father to apologize and suggest he should share some of the blame for not bringing her up correctly.

Many South Koreans saw her behavior as emblematic of a generation of spoilt and arrogant offspring of chaebol owners.
 
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