Why ‘nut rage’ is such a big deal in South Korea

[suxaholic.livejournal.com]

As Heather Cho publicly apologized on Friday, she stared at the ground and rarely raised her voice above a whisper. "I sincerely apologize for causing trouble to everyone," the former Korean Air vice president, dressed all in black, told a crowd of journalists. Her contrition was not just verbal: It had earlier been announced that Cho had not only quit her job with Korean Air but had also been removed from all other posts at affiliate companies.

Cho, also known by her Korean name Cho Hyun-ah, had suffered a remarkably swift fall from grace over the past week. Just last Friday, after she was served macadamia nuts the wrong way (in a bag, without asking) on a Korean Air flight in New York City, she forced the taxiing plane to return to the gate so that the chief flight attendant could be kicked off. The flight was slightly delayed as a result.

In any country, the story would have caused a stink. "Nut rage," as it was soon dubbed, seemed a truly remarkable tale of arrogance and entitlement, the story of one first-class passenger with powerful connections inconveniencing more than 200 others over a bag of nuts. But Cho's public humiliation, almost a week after the story broke, and the continuing debate over what exactly happened on the plane, suggests that in South Korea this is a bigger deal than at first glance.

On part of the problem for Cho is that she wasn't just a Korean Air executive when she was on that plane. She is also the daughter of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho, and thus an important figure in the family that runs South Korea's national carrier. In a country where family business dynasties are rife and controversial, that was a huge factor: On Tuesday after the story began to go viral, the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper published a damning editorial pointing to the privilege and arrogance among the tycoon families.

As Anna Fifield has written for The Washington Post, while North Korea's dynastic succession may get more attention, the way some South Korean conglomerates are run sometimes looks similar to Pyongyang. In sprawling, huge companies like Samsung, aging tycoons such as Lee Kun-hee are now prepping their younger generations to take over. “He is unquestionable,” one Samsung insider told The Post of the bosses in South Korea's "chaebol" conglomerates. “The word of the owner is like the word of the emperor, the word of God, and it can’t be refuted in any way.”

The power enjoyed by such families is a source of controversy. In the case of the Cho family, who had controlled Korean Air since they bought it from the government in 1969, there have been a variety of incidents that have led to a backlash. For example, Heather Cho was criticized for giving birth to her twin boys in Hawaii, thus giving them U.S. citizenship -- meaning they could avoid South Korea's mandatory military service. Cho's brother, Won-tae, was investigated by police for allegedly pushing an elderly woman in 2005. And Cho Yang-ho, their grandfather, was convicted of tax evasion in 2000.

After the "nut gate" incident, Korean Air's family leadership was, yet again, put under scrutiny. The Korea Times published an article that contrasted the company to German car manufacturer BMW, which is also under the partial ownership of one family."One way to explain Heather Cho's ill-considered deeds is that she is conscious of the Confucian tradition by which a male child inherits a family business. Her younger brother also works for the company. She has shown behavior typical of someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth," the English-language paper, part of the Hankook Ilbo group, wrote on Thursday. "In contrast, BMW recently named 49-year-old production executive Harald Krueger as the successor to CEO Norbert Reithofer, starting from May."

Cho's dramatic apology could also be taken as symptomatic of the South Korean attitude toward shame, or perhaps of "han," a Korean concept which roughly translates to a sense of burden or deep sorrow. Perhaps. But it's also tempting to see it as evidence of a company in "crisis PR" mode. According to Yonhap News, state prosecutors raided Korean Air's headquarters on Thursday to "safeguard" possible evidence, and there's now pressure for Cho Yang-ho to step down from his job as head of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games Organizing Committee.

source washington post

This makjang realness and her brrother what an ass

Comments

[jeliza]

"Ask a Korean" also did a small post about this, opining that the reason it got so big was not only because it was so symptomatic of the corruption of the ruling families, but that also the abusive treatment of employees was so familiar to the everyday Korean that it struck a chord with everyone.

I do wonder if the consequences to her would have been so dramatic if it had been her brother instead.

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. I don't know people put up with the amount of disrespect they get considering how shitty the base rate pay is.

[princetabi.livejournal.com]

damn dude, i couldn't believe this when I heard it. I can't even begin to imaging having that much of a sense of entitlement and totally disregarding the consequences.

[donutism.livejournal.com]

What pissed me off was how korean air tried to cover it up by telling them to lie about what happened. I am glad they spoke out.

I am glad she got sentenced, though I doubt she will do the whole thing. daddy got that cash and power to get her out after a while.

[hyungmoney.livejournal.com]

Damn how entitled can you be

[fancy-sheets.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it was because it was in the US airport that it blew up this much.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

OP, what did the brother do? I didn't see it mentioned in the article, or maybe I missed it?

[kiki3291.livejournal.com]

Cho's brother, Won-tae, was investigated by police for allegedly pushing an elderly woman in 2005.

Asshole. :/

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

Oooooh! I read that and it didn't even click. Damn, yeah that's awful. (thx for showing me)

[kiki3291.livejournal.com]

Yw~ :) I actually had to read it twice, thought it was referring to her uncle the first time. xD

[tommy50702.livejournal.com]

A year in jail may seem just as extreme as freaking out over nuts. But the flight attendant testified that she was pressured by another Korean Air manager to keep quiet about Cho's behavior. Prosecutors said during her trial that there was a systematic attempt to cover up the incident.

[charlieu.livejournal.com]

Extreme? I actually don't think it was enough. A year is little considering it's for breaking aviation law, putting every life in the plane in potential danger, assaulting employees, blackmailing employees to cover it up, destroying evidence, and hindering official investigations.

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

"One way to explain Heather Cho's ill-considered deeds is that she is conscious of the Confucian tradition by which a male child inherits a family business. Her younger brother also works for the company. She has shown behavior typical of someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth,"

I dont understand this statement. So her understanding of Confucian tradition that didnt allowed her to inherit family business caused her to have such a big entitlement issue? I cannot see the connection. :O

[x3raindropsx3.livejournal.com]

Same, I don't get that sentence. Like are they trying to say since she won't inherit that it's ok to throw tantrums or...

[chocolatebows.livejournal.com]

Since she won't inherit the business (Confucian tradition: the eldest son inherits the family business) she wouldn't is less likely to suffer from the repercussions of her past/current actions in the future. Hence she can do anything she wants.

^ I guess that's what they meant?

[gigabytexx.livejournal.com]

I think since married woman will belong to her husband, she has no more position in her parent's business therefore she can do whatever she wants (without dragging her parent's company down)?
But people are still connecting her to Korean Air, i dont really get this one. I guess media only like to pick up the well-known ones like "a daughter of Korean Air etc" rather than "A wife of *insert-unpopular-company-here*".

[torontok.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she got the public shaming she deserved.This VIP culture that exists with conglomerate families worldwide is reprehensible.In my country, politicians kids can get away with murder (literally).

[prlsb4swiine.livejournal.com]

Omg who's kids are you taking about

[agoongprincess.livejournal.com]

damn this shit is literally so wild. the level of entitlement and complete disregard for the consequences and the lives of everyone involved is astonishing. im glad this came to light and she's under a spotlight too big to squeeze out of this

[lovealwaysliana.livejournal.com]

Is she still going to jail for a year? Because that still seems extreme to me.

[charlieu.livejournal.com]

Extreme? For breaking aviation law, putting every life in the plane in potential danger, assaulting employees, blackmailing employees to cover it up, destroying evidence, and hindering official investigations? I think she should have gotten more than a year.

[innertide.livejournal.com]

after she was served macadamia nuts the wrong way (in a bag, without asking)

this Sweden Laundry realness lol

[bloods-rose.livejournal.com]

lol the sweden laundry parody killed me. poor chauffeur park. his little smile when the rich lady got splattered with mud was the best though