Korean Air flight attendant sues chairman’s daughter over ‘nut rage’ incident

A flight attendant harassed by the Korean Air Lines chairman’s daughter has filed a civil lawsuit against her in New York, where the so-called “nut rage” incident took place.

Stewardess Kim Do-hee, who also named the airline as a defendant, claimed in her lawsuit that former Korean Air executive Heather Cho Hyun-ah hit, shoved, threatened and screamed obscenities at her.

The summons filed this week with the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of Queens also said Kim was pressured to lie to government regulators to cover up the incident.

Cho, then a vice-president overseeing cabin service, became enraged at the way Kim served macadamia nuts to her – in a bag not in a bowl – as the plane was set to leave New York’s John F Kennedy airport on a flight to Incheon, South Korea, on December 5.

Cho had demanded the flight crew chief be expelled from the plane and ordered the plane to return to its gate after it had started to taxi. The incident attracted international headlines and triggered scorn and outrage at home.

Cho, the eldest child of chairman Cho Yang-ho, was already sentenced last month to one year in prison by a South Korean court for violating aviation security laws, using violence against a flight attendant and other charges. Cho has appealed the ruling.