In this Dec. 30, 2014, photo, Cho Hyun-ah, former vice president of Korean Air Lines, arrives at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office in Seoul, South Korea. A Seoul court on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, found Cho guilty of violating aviation safety law after a trial that stemmed from her tantrum over how she was served macadamia nuts on a flight. The court said Cho was guilty of forcing a flight to change its route, the most serious of the charges she faced. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)The Associated Press
One of the flight attendants involved in the Korean Air "nut rage" incident has filed a civil case in New York against the airline and the executive who lost her temper after being improperly served macadamia nuts.
Do Hee Kim, a flight attendant with Korean Airlines Co. Ltd., alleges that the airline's former vice-president of cabin service Cho Hyun-ah verbally and physically assaulted her in December after she improperly served the executive a bag of nuts. In first class, the nuts were meant to be served in a porcelain bowl rather than in a bag.
Ms. Cho – the daughter of the company's chairman – ordered the aircraft back to the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport to eject Ms. Kim and another employee, gaining international notoriety.
The incident also generated significant anger in South Korea against the country's large and powerful conglomerates. Many of these companies are family-owned and have received various government favours over the years, but some South Koreans are skeptical that the next generation – who were born into privilege – have the same business acumen as their predecessors. A statement from Ms. Kim's law firm notes the case was "was widely seen as a prime example of the corrupt and entitled behavior of the members of elite South Korean business families."
But the executive's outburst was not just sensational, it was also illegal.
Ms. Cho was recently criminally prosecuted in the South Korean capital of Seoul and sentenced to one year in prison for assaulting staff and interfering in the performance of the captain's duties.
But this new filing is a separate civil case that has arisen, Ms. Kim's lawyers said, since Ms. Cho and her counsel "have not to date engaged with us in any substantive settlement discussions."
In a statement, the law firm says its lawsuit claims that after being served the nuts, Ms. Cho "proceeded to scream obscenities at Ms. Kim, hit, shoved, and threatened her." It also alleges Ms. Kim was pressured to lie about the incident and appear at a public event with Ms. Cho as part of "an orchestrated effort to try and rehabilitate Cho's public image." The case seeks damages for "the extensive damage that (Ms. Cho) has caused to Ms. Kim's career, reputation, and emotional well-being."
A Korean Air spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the case.