South Korea has passed stricter aviation laws charging unruly air passengers for a penalty of up to $41,000 or a five-year jail term or both. The new law was brought into effect on Tuesday following the nut-rage incident that caused excessive commotion during a flight two years ago.
These legal changes come in response to an incident back in December 2014 involving Cho Hyun-ah, daughter of Korean Air Lines' CEO and chairman, for causing a taxiing plane to cancel the flight. Cho, who was a former vice-president of the airline, had an outburst on board a Seoul-bound flight that just left the gate in New York. The 41-year-old started making a fuss demanding to remove a steward for serving her macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a plate. Cho has then served five months in jail and was released in May 2015 after appeals court ruled the incident to her favour, stating that she did not necessarily caused a change in flight route.
Following the incident which became a case attracting global attention and being infamously dubbed as "nut-rage incident," the South Korean public widely criticized Cho for her behaviour. Furthermore, the case has reportedly reopened a national debate tackling elitism and the Korean business system lead by wealthy family firms known as "chaebols", BBC reports.
While the new law does not touch on the alleged brazen elitist attitudes of "chaebols", the government has addressed aviation laws. Previously, the same offence only had a penalty of 5 million won and did not have a jail term.
"The amended law reflects mounting public demand for enhanced aviation safety and the prevention of unruly behavior during flight following the Korean Air nut rage incident," the country's transport ministry said in a statement.
Also under the law, crew members will be required to hand over the disruptive passengers to authorities or pay a fine of over $8,000.
