On December 16, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport announced the results of their investigation of Korean Air's infamous Flight 86 "nut rage incident." Thus far, they have confirmed that former vice president Heather Cho verbally abused the purser Park Chang Jin and stewardess, ordered the plane to turn around, kicked Park out, and that Korean Air attempted to protect her by pressuring employees to lie during investigations
Back on December 12, Park informed the public that on the day of the "nut rage," Cho had verbally abused him and another stewardess and was violent with them as well, jabbing Park's hand until it left a mark. According to a first-class passenger that spoke with Yonhap News, Cho even pushed the employees' shoulders and threw objects, indicating that she was having a violent tantrum prior to ordering the plane to be turned around.
The transport ministry has confirmed that Cho did use abusive language, but were unable to ascertain whether she was violent with Park and the stewardess.
The transport ministry is also penalizing Korean Air for allowing Cho to make orders to turn the plane around and to kick Park out when, according to the aviation law, only the pilot can make these decisions and only the pilot is in charge of managing the service crew during flights.
The transport ministry will be further investigating into Korean Air's corporate culture as some believe that Korean Air employees are treated as personal servants for the Cho family. Not only did the Flight 86 employees feel compelled to listen to Cho's orders as she is the daughter of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang Ho but Korean Air was also found to have forced its employees to lie about the "nut rage" incident during investigations. Korean Air employees even went to Park's house to pressure him to lie, as well.
According to the transport ministry, Korean Air will be receiving sanctions, or penalties, for lying to investigations and for violating aviation laws. Korean Air can either face 21 days of flight suspension, receive a $1.3 million USD fine, or receive an even more severe punishment.
In other news, Korean Air has announced back on December 14 that Cho has attempted to apologize to Park and the stewardess in person. Korean Air representatives have stated, "Former vice president Cho visited the purser and stewardess's houses to personally apologize." They continued, "As both were not at home, she was unable to meet with them and instead left written apologies. Former vice president Cho said she would personally apologize to the purser and stewardess and will continue to attempt to meet them."
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