hankyoreh

It was almost like watching a despot lording over her little kingdom. The plane was taxiing down the runway at JFK Airport in New York on Dec. 5 when Korean Air Vice President Cho Hyun-ah abruptly forced it to turn around.

The incident began when Cho, who was sitting in first class, started yelling at a flight attendant who had served her macadamia nuts. Her service, Cho said, was contrary to company regulations.

When the head flight attendant approached to explain the regulations, Cho started screaming at her, too, and told her to get off the plane.

Cho’s behavior is an extreme case of entitlement that pushes the envelope of basic human courtesy. It also reflects a shocking degree of arrogance and contempt of aviation law. If Cho did not view her employees as servants, she could not have thrown a temper tantrum and ordered the head flight attendant off the plane simply because she was unhappy with the service she had received.

On Cho’s orders, the plane drove in reverse on the runway, let the flight attendant off the plane, and took off 20 minutes behind schedule. Cho exhibited complete disregard for the possibility that the delay might inconvenience the 400 passengers on the plane, and she exceeded her authority, usurping the authority of the captain on a whim. Forcing the plane to take off without the head flight attendant, who is responsible for the safety of the flight attendants, was yet another violation of aviation law.

Last year, an executive at a large corporation assaulted a Korean Air flight attendant because the ramen he was served wasn’t cooked enough. After the “ramen executive” incident, Cho expressed her sympathy for the embarrassment and shame that the flight attendant must have felt. “The laws will be revised to make it possible to prosecute people who get in the way of flight attendants doing their work,” Cho said.

But in the end Cho’s behavior was far worse than that of the executive she had excoriated. She did exactly as she pleased, just as if she was not bound by the law. How insulted the flight attendants must have felt!

But after the scandal blew up, Cho tried to evade responsibility, saying that the decision had been made with the consent of the captain. Her attempt to drag the captain into the debacle is the same kind of pathetic attempt to pass the buck that we have seen so many times before.

Cho’s high-handed behavior is a classic example of the mentality of the privileged class in South Korea. In the eyes of people with privilege - from the president on down - the possession of political power and great wealth entitles them to ignore human rights and disregard the law.

As the eldest daughter of Cho Yang-ho, Hanjin Group Chairman, Cho is a member of the family that controls the chaebol to which Korean Air belongs. She rose swiftly in the company ranks, reaching the position of vice president of Korean Air before the age of 40.

In May 2013, Cho was also accused to traveling to Hawaii to give birth to her children to ensure they would get American citizenship.

Sources at Korean Air say that this is hardly the first time that Cho has caused complaints by her domineering behavior with company employees.

All of this is the petty abuse of power produced by pariah capitalism.

Sad as it is to say, maybe it’s just too much to expect people with money to act like decent human beings.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]