[Yonhap News Photo]
SEOUL -- Cho Hyun-ah, a former Korean Air vice president known for a "nut rage" incident in 2014, was quizzed by immigration authorities Thursday over allegations that she and her mother have illegally hired Filipino housemaids at their homes.
The interrogation comes on the heels of multiple investigations by law enforcement authorities into illegal activities, abuse of power, assaults, tax evasion and smuggling of luxury goods by the ruling family of the Hanjin Group, which controls South Korea's top flag carrier Korean Air.
"I am sorry for causing trouble," the 44-year-old eldest daughter of Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho told reporters as she appeared at the Seoul office of the Korea Immigration Service.
Korean Air and its branch in Manila are suspected of having acquired traineeship visas for Filipino women over the past decade to let them work as maids at the homes of Cho Hyun-ah and her mother Lee Myung-hee, who will be questioned by immigration authorities later.
In December 2014, Cho Hyun-ah 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.
She was given a twelve-month prison sentence on conviction of violating aviation safety laws, but an appeals court overturned the conviction and handed down a suspended jail term, allowing her to walk free in May 2015.
Lee, 69, was banned from leaving abroad pending a police investigation into allegations that she has verbally and physically assaulted company employees, housekeepers, flight attendants and others.
The ruling family is also suspected of making security personnel hired by Jungseok Enterprise, a real-estate management arm of Hanjin, work at Lee's home with company money. Hanjin claimed its group chief now uses his own money to pay for security service at his home.
In a statement on Thursday, Hanjin refuted allegations that Lee had treated those from a security service company like servants at her home. However, some security workers demanded a criminal investigation, arguing they had suffered from excessive labor, insulting remarks and habitual mistreatment.
Hanjin has seen its image plunging due to a scandal involving the chairman's youngest daughter, Cho Hyun-min, who was accused of throwing a glass cup and sprayed plum juice during a business meeting with advertising agency officials on March 16. She told investigators that she lost her temper because the advertising official did not properly answer her questions.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
