An Instant of Nut-Fueled Rage Draws a Year in Korean Jail
By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — A former Korean Air vice president who ordered a plane back to its gate in a fit of anger over how she had been served macadamia nuts was convicted Thursday of violating aviation safety law and sentenced to a year in prison.

The executive, Cho Hyun-ah, whose father is the airline’s chairman, became an object of international ridicule after the Dec. 5 episode, in which she forced a Korean Air plane taxiing at Kennedy International Airport in New York to return to the gate so the chief steward could be removed. She was said to have been angry that a first-class flight attendant had served the nuts without first asking her, then in an unopened package rather than on a plate.

A district court in Seoul ruled Thursday that Ms. Cho had illegally forced the flight to change its route by ordering it back to the gate. Her conduct subjected the passengers to potential danger, the court said.

“She forced the plane to turn around as if it were her own private plane,” Judge Oh Seong-u said in announcing the sentence.

Ms. Cho, who has been in custody throughout her trial, sat upright during most of the sentencing hearing, wearing a green jail uniform. But when the judge read the letter of repentance she had submitted to the court seeking leniency, she lowered her head and wiped away tears, her shoulders shaking with sobs.

In the letter, Ms. Cho, one of South Korea’s wealthiest women, described how she was adjusting to life in jail, where she was issued the bare minimum of necessities. She said she was humbled by the generosity of fellow inmates who shared lotion, shampoo and other toiletries with her.

“I know my faults and I’m very sorry,” Ms. Cho said in her letter.

But the judge said her tantrum, widely covered by international news media, damaged the “national image” of South Korea.

“It is doubtful that the way the nuts were served was so wrong,” he said, adding that her verbal and physical assaults on crew members had violated their “human dignity.” He also questioned the sincerity of Ms. Cho’s expressions of remorse.

Prosecutors had asked that Ms. Cho be sentenced to three years.

What became known as the “nut rage” episode set off outrage in South Korea, where many harbor deep misgivings about the perceived arrogance of the families who control the country’s major conglomerates, known as chaebol. The scandal escalated as prosecutors charged that Korean Air management had tried to silence the flight’s crew to protect Ms. Cho. Her father, Cho Yang-ho, apologized for her conduct and removed her as vice president of the airline.

The court also sentenced a Korean Air executive, Yeo Un-jin, to eight months in prison on Thursday for pressuring crew members on the December flight to lie to government investigators and delete emails describing the episode. In their emails, crew members had accused Ms. Cho of using abusive language and throwing documents at one of the flight attendants, prosecutors said.

Mr. Yeo also blamed the crew for the episode in order to “hide the wrongdoings of management,” the court said in a statement.

A Transport Ministry official, Kim Un-seob, was sentenced to six months in prison for illegally briefing Mr. Yeo on what were supposed to be confidential details of an official inquiry into the episode. The sentence was suspended.

Earlier this month, Park Chang-jin, the steward who was removed from the plane, said Ms. Cho had forced him and the junior attendant to apologize on their knees, “like slaves in a medieval era.”

Korean Air had no immediate comment on the court’s rulings.

「堅果返航」判一年 韓航千金落淚

南韓法院十二日判決，大韓航空公司董事長的長女趙顯娥違反航空保安法等五項罪名確立，判刑一年，不得緩刑或易科罰金。

四十歲的趙顯娥去年十二月五日搭乘紐約飛往仁川的韓航班機頭等艙，在飛機駛向跑道還未起飛時，認為空服員未遵守送上堅果應放在碟子上的規定，怒斥空服員並喝令對方下跪道歉，還對空服員和座艙長怒罵動粗，最後要求機長將飛機開回登機門，趕座艙長下機。南韓和各國媒體連日報導此事，被稱為「堅果返航」事件。

時任韓航副社長的趙顯娥，十二日穿著綠色囚服出庭，她的頭低到不能再低，一頭短髮幾乎遮住全臉。她被控強迫飛機變更航道、妨礙司法公正等五項罪名，其中強迫變更航道最重可判九年徒刑，且不得緩刑。檢方對她求刑三年。

法官吳勝宇認為，趙顯娥在機上只是一名乘客，不能仗勢威脅機組員，下令更改航道。吳勝宇痛斥她「毫不體諒他人，把員工當奴隸，無法控制情緒」，不但讓被害者身心受創，也傷害南韓國家聲譽。

趙顯娥去年十二月卅日遭羈押後，六度寫信向法官道歉表示悔改，法官還當庭唸出信件部分內容，包括趙顯娥感謝其他收容人送她洗髮精等日常用品，且從不追問她案情，讓她了解何謂體諒他人，「更加察覺自己的錯誤並深感抱歉」。法官唸信時，趙顯娥在被告席頻頻拭淚。

法官表示，考量趙顯娥有悔意，因此判一年。趙的律師表示，將與她討論後再決定是否上訴。

美聯社報導，南韓許多民眾認為判得太輕。過去南韓許多權貴和財團老闆犯罪，都會判緩刑或被總統特赦，理由是他們對國家經濟發展有貢獻，許多富二代、富三代因此自認為是貴族階級，目中無人為所欲為，一般民眾都非常不滿。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/world/asia/former-korean-air-executive-Cho-Hyun-ah-convicted-in-nut-rage-episode.html

2015-02-13．聯合報．A21．國際．編譯陳韻涵