Korean Air ‘Nut Rage’ Executive Sentenced to Prison
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Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock(SEOUL, South Korea) — A South Korean court sentenced former Korean Air executive Cho Hyun-ah to one year in prison after finding her guilty Thursday of violating aviation saftey law.
Cho, the daughter of the airline’s chairman, gave illegal orders for the flight crew to return the plane to the gate during an outburst of anger, said Judge Oh Seong-u.
“She forced the plane to turn around as if it were her own private plane,” The New York Times quotes the judge as saying during Cho’s sentencing.
The incident, now known as “nut rage,” began Dec. 5 as Cho’s Seoul-bound Korean Air flight was taxiing at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport. A flight attendant served Cho nuts in an unopened bag instead of in a bowl, prompting the former airline vice president to fly into a fit of anger in which she reportedly used abusive language and threw documents at the crew, The New York Times reports. Cho ultimately ordered the plane back to the gate to have the chief flight attendant removed.
Cho, 40, has since resigned from her position at Korean Air and apologized for the incident. The judge, however, said Cho’s conduct aboard the plane had damaged South Korea’s reputation and exposed the plane’s passengers to potential danger.
It is unclear whether Cho will appeal the court’s ruling.
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