Korean Air executives questioned

By Kim Se-jeong

Some Korean Air executives are being questioned for allegedly destroying and manipulating evidence regarding the “nut rage” incident involving the daughter of the airlines owner, prosecutors said Thursday.

The prosecution added that it will soon request an arrest warrant for Heather Cho, 40, the former Korean Air Senior Vice President and the daughter of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho.

The prosecution acquired access to emails and telephone messages belonged to Cho and other Korean Air executives, Wednesday, and to check if Cho ordered the executives to destroy evidence.

Park Chang-jin, the chief flight attendant who was removed from the plane, renewed allegations on Wednesday that he was coerced into making false statements on what happened in the plane during an investigation by the transport ministry.

“The company ordered me to delete the first email report I wrote about the incident,” Park said during a television interview on Wednesday. “The order wasn’t given just to me but to all who were involved,”

The former vice president left the prosecution’s office early Thursday morning after 12 hours of questioning into what happened in the first-class section of the flight KE086 which was headed for Incheon International Airport from JFK International Airport in New York on Dec. 5. She refused to answer questions from journalists as she was leaving the office.

Cho ordered the plane carrying 250 passengers to return to the gate so that she could remove Park from the plane. She said she did so because the flight attendants served her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a plate, as written in the in-flight service manual. She is also accused of yelling at and physically assaulting Park and a junior flight attendant. The prosecution said Cho had partly admitted that she used violence against them.

Right now, charges against her may include violating the Aviation Safety and Security Act that prohibits passengers from any behavior that would disrupt flight operations, and interfering in business by abusing her power as vice president and the daughter of chairman. She initially denied that allegation. But, the other first-class passenger testified that she had seen Cho committing violence during an interview with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation which conducted an initial investigation. The passenger described Cho poking the chief flight attendant with a book and folded files and pushing him against the plane’s bulkhead.