Time to challenge power of the rich

The jailing of Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah for her tantrum over the way nuts were served to her in first class as a flight was about to take off was inevitable. Koreans have long been voicing disapproval at the way the country's giant conglomerates, the chaebol, operate and have questioned the power of the wealthy families that control them. The rare instances where court cases have arisen have usually ended in suspended sentences and a presidential pardon. Whether the one-year term is sufficient justice continues to be a topic of public debate, but that is less the point than that a judge has finally put the law before the identity of the accused.

Cho's antics typified what Koreans have come to expect of the sons and daughters of the heads of chaebol. The daughter of Korean Air's chairman had ordered the chief flight attendant off a December 5 flight for her having been served macadamia nuts in a packet rather than a bowl. At the time, she was the airline's head of cabin service, but travelling as a passenger; she used her position to force the plane back to the New York airport gate so that the offending crew member could disembark. Her resignation did not calm the outrage. Charges were laid that led to guilty verdicts for forcing a flight to change its route, obstructing the flight's captain, forcing a crew member off a plane, and assaulting a crew member.

The incident has heightened pressure for reforms of the chaebol system. Presidential candidates for elections in 2013 had promised change to a model that has allowed privilege, monopolies and far-reaching powers in society, but there has been little follow-through. One-third of the South Korean economy is controlled by just 30 companies and most are run by founding families that are able to exert unchallengeable power through having small, but controlling, interests. Top jobs are passed among members without regard for qualification or abilities. Chaebol helped the nation become Asia's third-biggest economy, but the incident known as "nut rage" has made clear why it is time for a rethink.