A family member of the former Korean Air Lines Co. executive at the center of the "nut rage" scandal came under fire on Wednesday after prosecutors revealed a text message in which she promised to "take revenge" on behalf of her sister.
Cho Hyun-min promised her sister Hyun-ah she would "take revenge no matter what" via a text message on Dec. 17 in apparent outrage over the ongoing probe into a row involving nuts that delayed the departure of a flight.
The 31-year-old Cho, who currently holds an executive-level position at the family-run business and is the youngest daughter of chairman, apologized hours after the text message was reported on the local news.
"I am very sorry beyond words for the content of that text message, which was reported in the newspapers," Cho Hyun-min said through her Twitter account. "I'd rather not make any excuses. My immature behavior is to blame."
Despite the apology, industry watchers said employees at the country's No. 1 carrier may have been "shaken up" by the message from an heiress of the family-run conglomerate, or chaebol.
"The 'nut rage' incident and how Korean Air has been handling the situation have come to show the real faces of these chaebols," an industry official said.
In early December, a Korean Air flight from New York to Incheon was unable to depart on time after the then-Vice President of the carrier became enraged that her in-flight snack of macadamia nuts were served in their wrapper instead of on a plate. The plane, which was already advancing on the taxiway, returned to the gate as Cho demanded the chief purser to get off.
