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Korean Air heiress Cho Hyun-ah on Monday stood in her first trial hearing on allegations that she had changed flight plans and interfered with a government probe into an on-flight incident she was involved in last month.
The eldest daughter of the airline owner Cho Yang-ho was indicted on Jan. 7 for five charges including violence and obstructing the crew duty in the New York-Seoul flight, a month after the so-called “nut rage” row stirred public uproar.
The trial hearing mainly focused on whether Cho changed the flight plan upon her authority.
According to the prosecution’s probe, Cho had ordered the cabin crew chief to deplane from the Dec. 5 flight when the plane had already been taxiing. This caused an 11-minute delay of the Seoul-bound plane, which was carrying more than 250 passengers.
Prosecutors have suspected that the former airline vice president had forced the cabin crew to return to the gate, even though she had known that the flight was underway. Citing flight safety regulations, they consider the flight starting from the moment the plane doors close.
Cho’s attorneys, on the other hand, denied the charges, claiming that she had not known that the plane was moving. They also asserted that the charges were not applicable since the flight was still on the ground, not airborne.
If convicted of changing the plane route, Cho could be sentenced to a jail term of one to 10 years.
The 40-year-old was also accused of having interfered in the Transport Ministry’s inquiry by having Korean Air officials attempt to cover up the case and manipulate evidence. The ministry had investigated the “nut rage” incident for a week before the prosecution’s probe was launched.
Along with Cho, a ministry’s official and former Korean Air employee attended the hearing for having supported the heiress’ alleged misconduct.
By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)
