VIDEO Revealed: Korean Air's 'psycho' passenger
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/Captured from Richard Marx's Facebook
By Hong Dam-young, Park Si-soo
The video clip of an in-flight drunken rampage involving a South Korean “psycho” passenger and popular U.S. musician Richard Marx went viral on Wednesday, unleashing a wave of criticism of the unruly passenger and curiosity about the man's identity.
And pieces of the man’s personal profile were put together in just hours thanks to the extensive searches of Internet-savvy Koreans and information leaked from police.
Rich man’s son
The passenger was confirmed as the son of a Seoul-based trading company's chairman, surnamed Im. He was born in 1982 and graduated from Seoul’s Lila Elementary School. The university he graduated from is unknown, but after graduation he worked for Samsung Electronics and recently joined his father’s company.
He committed the rampage after drinking two cups of whisky on board the flight. According to police, it was not the first time Im had become violent on a plane. He made similar in-flight trouble in September, police said.
Father promises action
The rampage rekindled 2006 reports that shed light on the trading company’s alleged poor working conditions, exploitation of employees and corruption.
One of those posts from 2006 read: “You will experience how human beings turn into working robots. We (workers) don’t have weekends or holidays.
“The problem is, we don’t receive any extra pay for overtime. Executives who control the company are corrupted as well.” It went on: “Everyone leaves the company in less than a year.”
Im’s father said his son was returning from a business trip to Vietnam when the incident happened. He said he would ensure his son’s wrongdoings were properly investigated.
Im was arrested on arrival at Incheon International Airport on Tuesday, but was sent home because he was too drunk to be questioned.
“Im went home with his guardian,” police said. “But we will summon him for questioning later.”