SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court on Tuesday approved the arrest of a former Korean Air Lines Co. executive who delayed a flight over a bag of macadamia nuts.
Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of the airline’s chairman, has faced mounting public anger because she forced the flight to return to its gate in New York to remove a senior flight attendant.
She was angry that the nuts were served in a bag, not on a plate, in an incident that has been dubbed “nut rage.”
Prosecutors have yet to press criminal charges against Cho, but South Korean law allows authorities to arrest a suspect for up to six months over worries the person could flee or destroy evidence. Seoul Western District Court said such concerns were warranted.
A separate arrest warrant for a current Korean Air executive, whose surname is Yeo, also was granted. Yeo is suspected of pressuring Korean Air employees to conceal the incident.
The court said there were “systematic attempts to cover up” Cho’s actions “since the beginning of the incident.”
The Seoul Western Prosecutors’ Office has said Cho would face several charges, including in-flight violence and changing a flight route, which is prohibited under aviation law.
Cho, 40, resigned this month as vice president at Korean Air.
