Yahoo – AFP,
Jung Ha-Won, 12 Feb 2015
 |
Cameramen
take images of a prison bus carrying Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-Ah
as she
arrives at a court for her trial in Seoul on February 12, 2015 (AFP Photo/
Jung
Yeon-Je)
|
The
daughter of Korean Air's chairman was jailed for one year Thursday over a now
notorious "nut rage" incident that triggered an uproar over the
behaviour of South Korea's elite business families.
The
district court in Seoul convicted Cho Hyun-Ah of violating aviation safety law
by forcing a taxiing New York-Seoul KAL flight to return to its departure gate
on December 5.
Cho, who
was the airline's executive vice president at the time, had insisted on
expelling the chief purser from the plane after taking exception to being
served macadamia nuts in a bag, rather than a bowl.
 |
Cho
Hyun-Ah, the daughter of Korean Air's
chief executive, has been found guilty of
violating aviation safety law in a now
notorious on-board "nut rage"
incident
(AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)
|
"It is
doubtful that the way the nuts were served was so wrong," Oh added.
Cho was
also convicted of assault on the cabin crew.
The chief
steward, Park Chang-Jin, had testified that Cho had made him kneel and beg for
forgiveness while jabbing him with a service manual.
Prosecutors
in the trial had asked for a three-year sentence, but Oh said he had taken into
account that no lives had been jeopardised in the incident, as well as the fact
that Cho had two young children and that her personal and professional
reputation had been shattered.
Dismissing
defence arguments to the contrary, the court ruled that an aircraft should be
deemed "in flight" from the moment it begins to move and that Cho was
therefore guilty of illegally altering the course of a plane.
Spoilt
and arrogant
She was
acquitted of obstruction of justice charges related to allegations that she had
pressured KAL staff to lie about the incident.
Another
defendant, also a KAL executive was convicted of forcing the flight crew to
give false testimony and was jailed for eight months.
Although
Cho had submitted letters to the court expressing repentance for her behaviour,
Oh questioned whether she was truly remorseful.
Cho, who
has been in custody since her arrest on December 30 and attended the court in a
green prison outfit, stood silently throughout the ruling, her head bowed.
The case
triggered a huge public backlash.
Cho was
seen as emblematic of a generation of spoilt and arrogant offspring of owners
of the giant family-run conglomerates, or "chaebols," that dominate
the South Korean economy.
Like Cho,
many are given senior positions in the family business, sometimes after a token
period "learning the trade".
In the
past, chaebol owners have appeared to be above the law. Those convicted of
gross fraud have either received lenient sentences or been granted pardons
after just a short time in jail.
Cho
resigned from all her posts and publicly apologised for her behaviour, which
her father and KAL chairman Cho Yang-Ho also criticised as a "foolish
act".
 |
South
Korea's Korean Air plane, center, sits on the tarmac at
Gimpo airport in Seoul
on Dec. 9, 2014. (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-je)
|
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