Korean Air ‘nut rage’ heiress and her mother avoid jail for smuggling luxury goods
- Lee Myung-hee and her daughter Cho Hyun-ah were charged with smuggling luxury clothes, fashion bags and earthenware aboard Korean Air planes
- Cho Hyun-ah grabbed headlines in 2014 for ordering a plane back to the gate after scolding a flight attendant over a bag of macadamia nuts
The district court in Incheon on Thursday sentenced widow Lee Myung-hee to six months in prison, suspended for a year, and fined her 7 million won (US$5,919). Lee’s daughter, Heather Cho or Cho Hyun-ah, a former Korean Air vice-president who previously spent five months in jail over a case that became known as the nut-rage incident, got a suspended sentence of eight months and a 4.8 million won fine.
The suspended sentences are the latest among a string of scandals for the family that is facing a complicated succession after the death of the Korean Air chairman in April. A public outcry in South Korea over the nut-rage episode reignited a long-running debate over whether the country’s big family-run conglomerates hold too much power and influence.
In the court case on Thursday, Lee and her daughter were charged with smuggling goods, including luxury clothes, fashion bags and earthenware, aboard Korean Air planes over several years, according to Yonhap News. They were disguised as items being brought in for the airline.
Heather Cho grabbed headlines in 2014 for ordering a Korean Air plane back to the gate after scolding a flight attendant for the way a bag of macadamia nuts was served. Cho’s five months in prison came as a Seoul court sentenced her to one year in jail for usurping a pilot’s authority.