‘Nut Rage’ Heiress’s Sister Back as Social Responsibility Exec

(Bloomberg) -- The youngest daughter of South Korea’s late Hanjin Group chairman, who had relinquished all her corporate duties after a water-tossing incident, is back working as an executive focused on social responsibility, the company confirmed.

Emily Cho stepped down as senior vice president of Hanjin Group’s airline unit Korean Air in April 2018 after police began investigating allegations she threw water at the face of an advertising agency worker during a business meeting. Prosecutors later determined that the water was tossed at no one in particular and cleared her of assault charges, South Korea’s Maeil Business newspaper reported.

The allegation of abuse followed her sister Heather Cho’s notorious, headline-grabbing “nut-rage incident” in which the heiress ordered a Korean Air plane about to depart back to the gate after scolding a flight attendant for the way a bag of macademia nuts was served. Heather Cho spent five months in prison after a Seoul court sentenced her to one year in jail for usurping a pilot’s authority.

A spokeswoman for Hanjin Group affiliate Korean Air said Emily Cho was back at work Monday as a senior executive at the group’s holding company Hanjin Kal and at the property leasing affiliate Jungseok Enterprise. South Korea’s Edaily, citing an unidentified Hanjin Group official, first reported on Cho’s return.

Cho’s return to the corporate suite comes as the death of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho in April led to reports of a family feud among his son and two daughters over control of the scandal-ridden chaebol better-known for operating Korea’s flagship carrier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shinhye Kang in Seoul at skang24@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Pae at ppae1@bloomberg.net, Kazunori Takada

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