Chew on this food for reflection imported from South Korea

The Inquirer carried a report (“Ex-Korean Air exec in ‘nut’ rage detained,” The World, 1/1/15) about a South Korean court ordering the arrest of a former Korean Air executive over a “nut” rage in New York last Dec. 5. The executive, Heather Cho, a scion of the Cho family which owns Korean Air, headed its in-flight service before being forced to resign on account of that scandal. Inside the plane, she went “nuts” and ballistic after being served macadamia nuts in a bag, not in a dish! For such a slight breach of etiquette, she snarled to show who was the boss! She insisted on kicking the attendant out of the plane which was already backing out of the tube to get ready to fly back to Seoul. In the thinking of probers, that constituted a serious violation of aviation safety laws.

That’s how swiftly justice was set in motion in that Asian country. Barely a month after the incident, a very important person of interest was immediately humbled into submission. Despite apologizing and making up for her unacceptable behavior, the heiress is now facing criminal charges and things don’t look good either for the airline company itself. Other executives who went out on a limb to try “covering up” the incident are now being put through the wringer as well.

The South Koreans’ respect for—nay, fear of the law—manifested itself quite clearly in that scenario. In terms of cultural, social or political maturity, that country seems way up there—probably an eight on the proverbial scale. We cannot help but wonder if a similar incident took place in our country involving our own VIPs. Would our prosecutors and our courts act just as swiftly? Bottom-dwellers as we always seem to be on the same scale, should anyone even bother asking that? Alas, there is simply no basis for comparison.

—STEPHEN MONSANTO,
Monsanto Law Office,
Loyola Heights, Quezon City
[email protected]