--- description: South Korean prosecutors have filed charges against Heather Cho Hyun-ah, daughter of the chairman of KAL, for her infamous "nut rage" title: Korean Air 'Nut Rage' Executive Charged image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa2c65800ab41b8c/6987788155a8591e9fa851ca/south-korea-korean-ai_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [South Korea](/tag/south-korea/) ## South Korea Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Korean Air's 'Nut Rage' Executive Is Facing Serious Charges by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 7, 2015 9:00 AM CUT  Cho Hyun-ah, center, former vice president of Korean Air Lines, arrives at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul on Dec. 30, 2014 Cho Hyun-ah, center, former vice president of Korean Air Lines, arrives at the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul on Dec. 30, 2014Ahn Young-joon—AP by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 7, 2015 9:00 AM CUT South Korean prosecutors filed charges against the daughter of the chairman of Korean Air Lines on Wednesday for delaying a flight — and, prosecutors allege, endangering its safety — because she was unhappy about how she was served nuts. Police have held Heather Cho Hyun-ah, formerly head of in-flight service at her father’s airline, in custody since Dec. 30, after she threw a tantrum when a flight attendant gave her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a dish. Dubbing the fiasco the nut-rage incident, media have struggled to decide if it should inspire disgust over the entitlement of South Korea’s ultra-rich or a chuckle at their expense. Yet the charges against Cho, who has resigned from her posts at the South Korean airline, are anything but chuckle-worthy. They include [violations](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/89ea6f1e-9640-11e4-a40b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3O7d1oOQd "undefined") of aviation-safety regulations for allegedly disrupting the South Korea–bound plane’s flight plan by forcing it to return to New York City’s John F. Kennedy airport shortly after leaving the gate. The _Financial Times_ reports that Cho, if convicted, could face up to 15 years in prison. _Read next:_ [_Prosecutors Seek Arrest for Korean Air Nut Rage Executive_](http://time.com/3646624/nut-rage-korean-air/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3657198/korean-air-nut-rage-heather-cho/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3657198/korean-air-nut-rage-heather-cho/"},"headline":"Korean Air's 'Nut Rage' Executive Is Facing Serious Charges","datePublished":"2015-01-07T09:00:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:21:20.394Z","description":"\"Nut rage,\" punishable by up to 15 years in prison, doesn't pay","url":"https://time.com/3657198/korean-air-nut-rage-heather-cho/","keywords":["South Korea","JFK"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa2c65800ab41b8c/6987788155a8591e9fa851ca/south-korea-korean-ai_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elizabeth Barber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa2c65800ab41b8c/6987788155a8591e9fa851ca/south-korea-korean-ai_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cho Hyun-ah","caption":"Cho Hyun-ah","creditText":"Ahn Young-joon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/south-korea/","name":"South Korea"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3657198/korean-air-nut-rage-heather-cho/","name":"Korean Air's 'Nut Rage' Executive Is Facing Serious Charges"}}]}] ```