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Cho Hyun-min’s recent tantrum is indicative of the company’s refusal to reform
On Dec. 12, 2014, Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho appeared in person with his head bowed in an attempt to soothe the South Korean public’s anger over the so-called “nut rage” incident involving his older daughter, former Korean air vice president Heather Cho Hyun-ah. “I sincerely apologize for the great disturbance caused by my daughter’s foolish behavior,” the elder Cho said. “I failed to educate [her] properly. I will do my best to ensure such a thing never happens again,” he added. In a New Year’s address for 2015, he apologized again to [Korean Air] staff and executives and announced plans to form a “communication committee” to reform the corporate culture. Over three years later, the words of remorse spoken with lowered head by Cho after the nut rage episode have proven to be mere lip-service. Plans to bring outside figures on board for the communication committee have come to naught. The “communication square,” a kind of in-house bulletin board where employees can post anonymously, has utterly failed to rein in the ruling Cho family. “It’s not a structure where you can talk about it when you suffer unreasonable treatment at the hands of the ruling family or executives,” said one Korean Air employee. It was as though Cho’s apology and pledge to prevent recurrences never happened; last March, Heather Cho, who received a suspended sentence over the nut rage incident, made a surprise return as CEO of the KAL Hotel Network. With controls and communication stymied, criticism of the Cho family’s “empty apologies” has been further intensifying in the wake of another episode involving Korean Air senior vice president Emily Cho Hyun-min, 35, hurling water at [an advertising agency manager]. On Apr. 14, an internal complaint was lodged with the release of an additional recording featuring a woman – also apparently Emily Cho – cursing and shouting at an employee in her office at Korean Air headquarters. “Ms. [Emily] Cho’s shouting is already very well-known internally,” a Korean Air employee said. The kind of bad behavior seen in the past by the three “Hanjin Cho siblings” – including Emily Cho – is once again becoming a topic of public discussion. Some critics contend that the repeated instances of bad behavior by members of the family stem from their viewing of the company as their own private property. Cases like Heather Cho commanding a flight attendant to drop to their knees in the nut rage episode or Emily Cho, who is in her thirties, using disrespectful language toward an older executive (considered taboo in Korean culture) are seen as the result of them viewing their colleagues as subordinates rather than fellow company stakeholders. “The families who own chaebols have treated their companies as private property while holding relatively small shares, and there’s been widespread abuse of power toward employees, including the use of discretionary powers to appoint staff,” said Kim Eun-jeong, secretary of the economy and finance center of the group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD). “Among the various measures needed for chaebol reform, there has been talk of laws and institutional measures to curb abuses by chaebol families, but we need to create the kind of structures where they can actually function,” Kim suggested. Korean Air unions call for Cho’s resignation In some cases, the bad behavior has hurt the company’s brand image, resulting in an “owner risk” phenomenon where other staff members suffer the fallout. On Apr. 15, Korean Air’s three labor unions – Labor Union Korean Air, the Korean Air Pilot Union, and the New Korean Air Union – took the unusual step of releasing a joint statement to call for Emily Cho’s resignation. In their “Statement on the Controversy over Bullying Behavior by Korean Air Management,” the three unions noted that Emily Cho’s name had “become the top [internet] search term for days on end” and complained, “With the nonstop coverage of bad behavior by managers and citizen petitions to reclaim the name of the company, things have reached the point where even the 20,000 employees who have toiled on the ground are facing the public’s censure.” “The very lives of 60,000 families are being shaken to the court,” they declared in the statement. “We employees take pride in exploring the world’s skies and raising the stature of the Republic of Korea, and we have done our best to ensure comfortable and safe journeys for our customers,” the statement continued. “We are mortified to see all of those efforts crumbling due to the abusive and entitled behavior of Emily Cho Hyun-min,” it added. On the Blue House citizens’ petition to revoke the “Korean Air” name, however, the statement voiced the “earnest hopes of over 20,000 employees to continue using the ‘Korean Air’ company name.” Politicians have joined in the chorus of stern denunciation and calls for punishment. In a supreme council meeting at the National Assembly on Apr. 16, Democratic Party leader Choo Mi-ae said, “While bad behavior by the children of chaebol families is nothing new, the behavior by Emily Cho Hyun-min has been a shock to the South Korean public.” “We must not have [chaebol family members] piggybacking on management authority despite a lack of management capabilities and ethics,” she insisted. Justice Party leader Lee Jeong-mi predicted, “Like Heather Cho after the nut rage incident, there is a very good chance Emily Cho will return in a few years as though nothing ever happened.” “The only way to break this vicious cycle is for the Cho siblings to step down from management at Korean Air and its affiliates,” she continued. By Park Su-jin and Kim Tae-kyu, staff reporters Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
