'Nut rage' piques Japan's attention
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The recent ‘nut rage’ scandal surrounding former Korean Air vice president Heather Cho has become a surprisingly hot issue in neighboring Japan.
Japanese media have been covering developments as front page news, according to Korean report. The interest extended to when Cho’s sister Cho Hyun Min threatened to take revenge for the former’s arrest.
The Japan Times recently listed the scandal in its “Worst Year in Asia 2014 edition.” The article said of the fiasco: “The only winner: sellers of macadamia nuts who saw sales jump after the incident.”
Local vernacular Dong-a Ilbo quoted an overseas Korean in Japan as saying, “Once a mishap happens in Korea, it tends to be covered excessively” in Japan.
The interest in the nut rage incident extends elsewhere as well.
The newspaper reported that a 15-year-old Korean studying in Paris was surprised when the scandal was a debate topic at her international school.
The student told the paper, “Everyone was staring at me and expecting an answer. I could not look up because I was so embarrassed.”
The scandal erupted last month when Cho ordered a Korean Air Lines plane to return to the gate after a packet of macadamia nuts were served to her in a bag rather than on a plate.