Following a criticism by American Pop Star Richard Marx for their method to handle violent passenger, Korean Airlines has given its crew members training to use stun guns and will hire more male flight attendants in the future to help tackle unruly passengers on board.
Announced on Tuesday, the new guidelines will also include the use of use of the latest device to tie up a violent passenger, and the banning of passengers with a history of unruly behavior.
According to Sky News, previously Korean Air staff were only allowed to use stun guns in "grave" situations which jeopardised the life of a passenger or crew member, or the safety of a flight.
The airline's president Chi Chang-hoon emphasized that although the US carriers have taken stern action on violent on-board behavior following the terrorist attacks of September 11 back in 2001, Asian carriers including Korean Air have not imposed tough standards because of Asian culture.
Marx, who was with his wife Daisy Fuentes during the flight, used rope a rope to tie the man to a seat and later claimed that the airline crew members to be "clueless and not trained" and do not know how to handle such situation without passengers interference.
Identified by his surname Lim, the passenger who sparked the whole unwanted incident was issued an arrest warrant by South Korean police on Tuesday. His charges include inflicting injury to the crew and a passenger on the Vietnam to South Korea flight.
An airline spokesman said the man had consumed two and a half shots of whiskey during the flight.
Video footage of the recent incident posted on YouTube showed a young man in a business class seat spat and swore at crew members trying to restrain him with a rope.
On Monday, the passenger appeared for questioning by police, wearing a mask, thick-rimmed glasses and a hat. He apologised for his behavior but said he could not remember what had happened.
In 2014, Korean Air was involved in a high-profile case of bad passenger behavior when Heather Cho, the daughter of its chairman, who was an executive with the carrier, forced a flight crew chief off the plane at New York's JFK Airport because she was unhappy about the way she was served macadamia nuts.
She then served nearly five months in jail due to the provoked widespread ridicule, as reported by Times of India.
