The
daughter of Korean Air Lines chairman has apologized to the two flight
attendants she harrassed about improperly served macadamia nuts. One steward
described her allegedly outlandish behavior on South Korean TV.
Deutsche Welle, 14 Dec 2014
Cho
Hyun-ah, daughter of Korean Air Lines Chairman Cho Yang-ho and former head of
cabin service for the company, apologized personally on Sunday to two flight
attendants she admitted insulting and humiliating in an incident dubbed
"nut rage" by the media.
Cho made
headlines last week over her behavior on a Korean Airlines jet, in which the
40-year-old executive delayed the New York-Seoul flight because she was dissatisfied
with the way an attendant served her macadamia nuts. New details about the
events have emerged, with the flight attendant in question claiming he was
asked to lie to investigators and forced to kneel by Cho.
"People
who haven't experienced [this] will not understand that feeling of being
insulted and shamed," said senior flight attendant Park Chang-jin on South
Korea's KBS television network. After Cho became enraged that the first-class
steward brought her the nuts, which she had not ordered, in a packet instead of
a bowl, Park says he and his colleague were made to kneel in front of her,
before being called names and pushed into the cockpit door.
According
to Park, Cho shouted to the cabin crew to "call right now and stop the
plane. I will stop this plane from leaving." In his KBS interview, Park
said he feared to "disobey the daughter of the owner."
Cho
vehemently denies forcing anyone to kneel, saying on Sunday: "I've never
heard of such a thing. I don't know anything about it."
She went to
the homes of both Park and his unnamed colleague, but as neither of them was
home she left notes of apology.
Privilege
and arrogance
She
resigned her post as head of cabin service for Korean Air Lines shortly after
the incident, and both Cho and her father made public apologies at press
conferences. Cho told journalists, "I sincerely apologize. I'm
sorry," a few hours after her father had bowed to members of the press
corps and taken responsibility for failing "to raise the child
properly."
The drama
has captivated South Korea, where Cho has been called a "princess"
and chided by the media. Amid growing criticism of such displays of
entitlement, many point the finger at a culture in which business dynasties
were credited with leading the country to modernization and wealth.
Cho is
being questioned by state authorities about whether she violated aviation law.
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