Nut rage sister faces fruit juice questions in SoKor

SEOUL (AFP) — The stony-faced daughter of a Korean billionaire, whose older sister was brought low by the “nut rage” scandal, yesterday apologized as she reported to police for questioning over allegations she sprayed a business associate in the face with fruit juice.

“I’m really sorry for causing concern,” Cho Hyun-min repeatedly told a crowd of journalists outside the Gangseo police station here, without admitting to any specific actions.

Cho, who police said is accused of using violence and obstructing business, is the daughter of Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yangho.

Hanjin is among the country’s 15 biggest business groups, owner of flag carrier Korean Air, logistics and transport firms, and with interests in information technology and hotels.

It used to own Hanjin Shipping, once one of the world’s biggest shipping firms, which was declared bankrupt last year.

The younger daughter’s police interrogation is only the controlling family’s latest brush with the law, with a series of scandals making them some of the country’s most notorious superwealthy.

South Korea’s economy – the world’s 11th-largest – is dominated by a series of giant business conglomerates known as “chaebols.”

In the past, the chaebols contributed to the country’s fast economic growth, but as the founders’ sons and grandsons took over, they expanded into every corner of business and now stand accused of suffocating smaller companies and hampering innovation. They have long had murky ties with political authorities.

“The Cho family is one of the most vilified chaebol families, with multiple family members implicated in alleged bad behavior,” Chung Sun-sup of online information service chaebol. com told AFP.

In the most infamous incident, the chairman’s elder daughter Cho Hyunah made global headlines in 2014 for forcing two flight attendants to kneel and beg for forgiveness after she was served macadamia nuts in a bag rather than a bowl.

She ordered the Seoulbound flight back to the gate so one of them could be ejected in an incident quickly dubbed “nut rage.”