The Daejeon District Court on Wednesday sentenced a man in his 50s to one year in jail, suspended for three years, for assaulting a female flight attendant on board a flight from Incheon to Australia last March.

The man was found to have hit the attendant on the face and chest after being asked to sit down. He had been lying asleep in the aisle. He also verbally abused the flight attendant and refused to follow her instructions.

Police and the aviation industry have continued to express concerns over the surging number of in-flight incidents, but few offenders have faced charges.

But criminal punishments of air passengers who assault or sexually harass female attendants have gotten tougher. Courts mostly imposed fines in the past.

Korean Air has also pledged to take stern disciplinary action against offending passengers. The flag carrier said it had notified police of 18 cases of violence committed by passengers over the first seven months of this year.

The change in approach came after an executive of a unit of POSCO assaulted a flight attendant during a Korean Air flight from Incheon to Los Angeles in 2013. He hit the stewardess’ face with a magazine because he was unhappy with the way the instant noodles she served him were cooked.

The executive was denied entry to the U.S. on an assault charge and forced to return to Seoul.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)