Journalists surround Cho Hyun-ah, a former Korean Air vice president, for comment, in the yard of a district court in Seoul on May 2. [Yonhap News Photo]
SEOUL -- In the court's first hearing on the illegal employment of Filipino housemaids, Cho Hyun-ah, a former Korean Air vice president known for a "nut rage" incident in 2014, pleaded guilty of violating the immigration law, saying she fully repents on her wrongdoing.
Responding to her request for mercy, state prosecutors demanded a fine of 15 million won ($12,840). The 43-year-old eldest daughter of Hanjin Group's late chairman Cho Yang-ho was accused of having hired five Filipino housemaids from 2013 by forging documents to pretend they were Korean Air employees.
"I deeply reflect on myself for committing such a mistake for the lack of my knowledge about a legal aspect," Cho Hyun-ah said in the first hearing Thursday at a district court in Seoul. "I am sorry to company employees who have been hurt by me and repents on my wrongdoing, so I ask you to give me another chance."
Her lawyer called for mercy, insisting Cho Hyun-ah had asked for company help to hire foreign housemaids with no active awareness or intention to violate the law because South Korean helpers do not work on the weekend. The unexpected death of Cho Yang-ho in an American hospital on April 8 eased widespread public resentment.
The lawyer said Cho Hyun-ah has been in a difficult situation because of endless investigations into her family, a divorce suit with her husband and the death of her father. The verdict for Cho Hyun-ah will come on June 11. Her mother, Lee Myung-hee, stood in the same court for hired Filipino housemaids from 2013 to 2018.
Cho Hyun-ah became enraged in December 2014 when a flight attendant served her some nuts in a bag, rather than on a plate, on board a flight that was forced back to the gate while taxiing to the runway.
The 2014 incident fueled public anger as it followed a slew of incidents involving group owners and their offsprings. She was given a twelve-month prison sentence on conviction of violating aviation safety laws, but an appeals court overturned the conviction and handed down a suspended jail term, allowing her to walk free in May 2015.
Last year, Hanjin was hit hard by a scandal involving the late chairman's youngest daughter, Cho Hyun-min, who allegedly threw a glass cup and sprayed plum juice during a business meeting with advertising agency officials. The scandal triggered multiple investigations into Hanjin's ruling family on charges of creating a slush fund, evading taxes, bringing in luxury foreign goods illegally, abusing and assaulting company employees and others.
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