By Chung Hyun-chae
Korean Air chief flight attendant Park Chang-jin, who faced verbal and physical abuse by former Korean Air executive Heather Cho during the infamous "nut rage" incident, has filed a compensation suit against her in the United States, sources said Thursday.
Following a lawsuit filed in March by another victim in the case, junior flight attendant Kim Do-hee, this is the second legal action taken against Cho in the U.S.
Park only sued Cho, not the company, while Kim is suing both.
In the suit filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Queens, he demanded compensation for the abuse from Cho, which he claimed caused serious bodily and mental harm.
It had been said that compensation could reach 50 million won ($42,822) but Park did not specify an amount in his complaint.
During the December incident, Cho ordered a plane bound for Seoul to return to the gate from a taxiing area at JFK International Airport in New York and forced Park off the plane because she was outraged when Kim served her macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a plate.
Park had been on paid sick leave from Jan. 29 until July 23, which has been extended to next January.
Meanwhile, Cho’s legal representatives plan to continue to claim that the case should be reviewed in Korea for the sake of efficiency, citing the problem of translating 8,000 related documents.
Cho also argued that both Park and Kim are trying to receive more compensation by taking advantage of punitive damages, something available in the U.S. but not in Korea.
Park countered that argument when filing the suit, saying the incident caused damage to not only him but also other passengers and JFK airport staffers, and thus the case should be dealt with in the U.S.
Last month, the Seoul High Court reduced Cho’s initial sentence to 10 months in prison suspended for two years after she had been found guilty of committing acts of violence that disturbed flight safety, coercion and interfering with business by a lower court.
Prosecutors have appealed to the Supreme Court.