Korean Air chief's wife to be probed over assault allegations

Seoul, May 21 (IANS) The wife of the chairman of Korean Air will be questioned next week over allegations that she physically and verbally abused several employees of the company, investigating officials said on Monday.

Chairman Cho Yang-ho's wife Lee Myung-hee would be questioned on May 28 regarding claims that in 2014, she abused several workers at a hotel construction site in Incheon, located west of Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.

Video footage emerged recently showing a woman, closely resembling Lee, pushing around a construction worker and throwing documents at another.

The Korean Air chairman's younger daughter, Cho Hyun-min, was also called in for police questioning earlier in May for allegedly throwing a glass at an advertising agency official and juice at several other participants during a meeting.

Cho Hyun-min's elder sister, a former Vice President of the group, Cho Hyun-ah, was sentenced to two years in prison for a notorious "nut rage" incident in 2014 during which she became enraged when a flight attendant served her macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a dish. The plane was forced to return to the gate at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

These incidents led to the Korean Air Chairman issuing a public apology and firing his daughters from the positions they were holding in the company.

The incident involving the Chairman's wife has once again reopened debate over the excessive power wielded by families who own huge South Korean conglomerates like Samsung and LG.

Cho Yang-ho is also suspected of having employed over 10 Filipino domestic workers illegally, Seoul's Immigration Office had reported earlier.