Korean care

Tagged the “water rage” scandal the incident sparked headlines and evoked memories of another event back in 2014 when an older daughter of the chairman, Heather Cho (her Korean name is Cho Hyun-ah), then a KAL vice-President, was sentenced to one year in prison for ordering a plane in New York to return to its gate after becoming furious over how her macadamia nuts were served. That became known as the “nut rage” incident. At the time Cho apologized on live television for her “foolish” behavior and declared; “I failed to raise her properly”.

All of this would be funny if it weren’t for the fact that “water rage” is the latest in a litany of questionable events that highlight the power of the so-called “chaebols”, the small group of family-controlled conglomerates that hold sway and immense power in Korea. The Cho family’s Hanjin Group, owners of KAL, are such a force and critics charge it has a corporate culture in which bullying and some degree of verbal abuse may have been tolerated for years, not to mention the nepotism which sees unqualified family members appointed to senior posts.

Chairman Cho himself is hardly free from the shadow. Back in 2000, when he was head of KAL, he was sentenced to four years in prison by the Seoul district court in the country’s largest tax evasion case in history, along with a fine of $26.7 million. Whether he spent any time behind bars is unclear since he was spotted on the U.S. West Coast in the vicinity of Boeing during the time he was supposed to be incarcerated. While he stepped down as head of the airline at the time, he soon returned as chairman of the Hanjin group.

This time, however, it seems the public backlash may be having some impact. Last month Cho issued a statement through his press office that “effective immediately” he was dismissing his two daughters from their executive posts.

‘This time it seems the public backlash may be having some impact.’

“I would have Korean Air Senior Vice President Cho Hyun-min step down from all of her posts within Hanjin Group, as well as Cho Hyun-ah, president of KAL Hotel Network, resign as well,” he said.

Cho also named Seok Tae-soo, president of Hanjin KAL, as the vice chairman of Korean Air. In addition, he did the previously unthinkable, saying a non-family member would soon be appointed as head of the airline. That decision was specifically made to meet growing demands on KAL to have a professional chief executive, not a member from the ownership family, lead, he said. The chairman also pledged to strengthen the role of the boardroom and establish a compliance committee to “institutionally prevent” such incidents from happening again.

The chairman’s apology and instant dismissal of his own daughters have widely been seen as gestures to appease an angry public. But his worries may not be over. Speculation about the smuggling of luxury items has also been raised, with a number of whistleblowers claiming the Cho family frequently smuggled luxury goods through employee-only passageways, abusing their positions.

In April, police raided KAL’s head office of Korean Air to secure evidence over Cho Hyun-min’s alleged assault with the water bottle, while the Korea Customs Service opened a separate probe to track down credit card spending by ownership family members. As for the petition to strip KAL of using Korean in its name as well as to cease using the country‘s signature taegeuk symbol as its trademark on the carriers tail, this is unlikely to be successful.

“Korean Air’s logo, though it describes a taegeuk mark, is not completely identical (to the nation’s flag),“ said an official of the Korean Intellectual Property Office. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also said in a statement that it is not entitled to annul or limit the trademark usage of a private company. The public outcry should, however, ensure Hanjin and KAL tread very carefully in future.