Korean Air Heiress Arrested Over Nut Rage Incident
A South Korean heiress to an airline fortune has been arrested for her role in forcing a plane to return to the gate after its initial departure.
The South Korean news service Yonhap reports that Cho Hyun-ah was arrested after a court approved a warrant for her arrest that prosecutors requested last week. Cho has been charged with violating air safety regulations pertaining to the unauthorized changing of a flight plan, coercion, and interfering with an official duty. She is also in hot water for, "assaults on a plane."
A separate warrant was issued for a high ranking Korean Air executive that prosecutors believe tried to cover up the incident. Authorities believe the executive tried to destroy the initial report about the Dec. 5 incident that has gotten Cho in so much trouble. Prosecutors have also said they are casting their net further afield in an effort to determine if any government officials tried to aid in the cover up.
On Dec. 5, Cho was on board a Korean Air flight that was leaving New York City for Seoul. As the flight began to depart, a flight attendant gave Cho a bag of nuts. Nuts are typically supposed to be served in a dish, rather than the bag on Korean Air flights, and she did not request the nuts. This breach of protocol led to Cho to manically demand that the plane return to the gate so the flight attendant who gave her the nuts could get off.
The incident led to an 11-minute delay for the 250 passengers on board.
Cho is the oldest daughter of Korean Air's Chief Executive Cho Yang-ho. She was previously the vice president of cabin service, but national outrage and embarrassment over the incident forced her to resign four days after arriving in South Korea.
