Police investigate second angry daughter of Korean Air Lines chairman

Jin Air Co

13/04/2018 05:10

By Christine Kim and Joori Roh
    SEOUL, April 13 (Reuters) - South Korean police have
launched an inquiry into reports a daughter of the chairman of
Korean Air Lines  003490.KS  threw a water bottle at someone's
face, the second daughter of the airline chief to get into
trouble over an angry outburst.
    Cho Hyun-min, a senior vice president at the airline,
apologised on Thursday for her "foolish behaviour", following
media reports that she threw a water bottle at the face of a
manager at the airline's advertising agency.
    In her apology on her Facebook page, Cho did not give
details of the incident and an airline spokesman said she had
thrown a water bottle on the floor, not at anyone's face.
    Cho's older sister, Heather Cho, made headlines over a
notorious "nut rage" incident in 2014, when she lost her temper
over the way she was served nuts in first class and ordered the
Korean Air Lines plane she was on to return to its gate at a New
York airport.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1RP3AS  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1OL2HV
    Police had launched a preliminary investigation to see
whether Cho Hyun-min had abused her power or broken any law in
connection with the latest reports, an official at Seoul Gangseo
Police Station told Reuters on Friday.
    The official gave no details of the inquiry. Such inquiries
are carried out to determine if a formal investigation of an
incident is warranted.
    A Korean Air Lines spokesman said the company had yet to be
informed of any preliminary investigation.
    The airline's chairman, Cho Yang-ho, has not commented on
the incident involving his younger daughter, who has left the
country on a vacation, the company said.
    The behaviour of the rich and powerful is sensitive in a 
country where the economy is dominated by family-run
conglomerates know as chaebol, particularly days after a court
jailed former President Park Geun-hye for 24 years over a
scandal that exposed deep ties of corruption with several
chaebol.
    Korean Air Lines was not connected to the Park scandal.
    Thousands of people have in recent days posted comments on a
presidential office website where members of the public can
lodge petitions, to demand changes at the airline.
    Many of the people who signed a few dozen petitions demanded
that the airline remove the word "Korean" from its name and stop
using the symbol on the Korean flag as its logo.
    Many said the daughters' behaviour was "degrading" for the
country and the company.
    A petition needs to gain more than 200,000 signatures within
30 days to prompt a mandatory response from the presidential
office.
    Heather Cho was found guilty of breaking aviation law and 
jailed for a year over her "nut rage" incident but was freed in
May 2015 after an appeal.

 (Reporting by Christine Kim and Joori Roh
Editing by Robert Birsel)
 ((christine.kim@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5665; Reuters
Messaging: christine.kim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))