Enduring impact of ‘gapjil’ in Korean society’s power dynamics
In Korea, no one is immune to abuse of power scandals
Cho Hyun-ah, former vice president of Korean Air, is released after receiving a suspended sentence at an appellate court in Seocho District, Seoul, May 22, 2015. Cho was indicted and detained for forcing a flight to turn back due to dissatisfaction with in-flight service. Korea Times photo by Shin Sang-soon
A uniquely Korean concept has long shaped the country’s fraught power dynamics. Known as “gapjil” — a term derived from “gap,” denoting the dominant party in a contract, and “jil,” meaning undesirable behavior — it refers to the abuse of authority by those in senior social or professional roles, often through bullying, public humiliation or arbitrary demands. Though not new, such behavior has come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks.
One prominent recent example involves Rep. Kang Sun-woo, nominee for minister of gender equality and family. She faced accusations of forcing her aides to perform personal errands, including household repairs like fixing a toilet and managing food waste disposal — tasks far outside their professional duties.
Following days of intensifying controversy, Kang withdrew her candidacy on Wednesday.
“I apologize to the public for the pain I have caused. I will humbly accept this stern rebuke and reflect deeply,” she wrote in a statement posted on social media.
A recent nationwide poll of 2,002 adults by Jowon CNI found that 60.2 percent viewed Kang as unfit for the role, compared to 32.2 percent who said she was fit for the position.
This type of behavior drew international attention a decade ago with the widely publicized "nut rage" incident.
In December 2014, Korean Air Flight KE086, preparing for departure from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Incheon, made an extraordinary return to the gate while taxiing for takeoff. Such maneuvers are typically reserved for dire emergencies, but the reason for this diversion was singularly unusual.
Cho Hyun-ah, then a vice president of Korean Air and a first-class passenger, became enraged when she was served macadamia nuts in a bag rather than on a plate. Her outburst escalated to the point where she forced the aircraft to return and ordered the cabin manager removed from the flight. The episode swiftly became one of Korea's most notorious public examples of gapjil.
Rep. Kang Sun-woo, former nominee for minister of gender equality and family, listens to questions during her confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul, July 14. Yonhap
In a society where rigid hierarchies still hold sway, abuse of power remains deeply embedded in everyday life.
A 2023 survey by the Office for Government Policy Coordination found that 79.4 percent of 2,000 adult respondents viewed gapjil as a serious issue in Korean society, and 25.7 percent said they had personally experienced it in the past year. Notably, 56.4 percent said they had recently begun to see behaviors they once overlooked as gapjil, reflecting growing public awareness of the issue.
In Korea, no one is immune from abuse of power scandals — not chaebol heirs, media moguls or even K-pop idols.
News reports surfaced three days after the “nut rage” incident, prompting Korean Air to issue a public apology. The following day, Cho resigned from her role at the airline.
In 2018, Bang Jung-oh, then president of cable network TV Chosun, resigned after reports revealed that his 10-year-old daughter had verbally abused the family’s driver, a man in his 50s, and threatened to have him fired.
Two years later, K-pop group Red Velvet’s Irene came under fire when a stylist accused her of verbal abuse and aggressive behavior. The singer apologized within days, saying she was “truly sorry for hurting the stylist with my foolish attitude and careless words.”
Seol Dong-hoon, a sociology professor at Jeonbuk National University, defines gapjil as “the unfair exercise of power in transactional or contractual relationships.” He told The Korea Times that rising public sensitivity to such behavior stems from a growing emphasis on fairness in Korean society.
“Abuses of power exist in every society,” Seol said. “But in Korea, especially since democratization, there’s a strong social consensus that unfairness in the public sphere — particularly when power imbalances exceed the boundaries of a labor contract — is unacceptable.”
Lim Myung-ho, a psychology professor at Dankook University, traced Korea’s deep-rooted power imbalances to its class-based past, where a privileged aristocracy known as "yangban" held dominance over commoners.
“While traces of that class consciousness still remain, Korean society, especially younger generations, is extremely sensitive to fairness,” Lim told The Korea Times. “Gapjil is seen as a modern echo of the old hierarchical order. And because Koreans are highly attuned to social comparison, they respond strongly to these lingering inequalities.”