This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

South Korea’s transport ministry has said Korean Air will face sanctions for pressuring employees to lie during a government investigation into the “nut rage” fiasco that highlighted the tyrannical behaviour of a top Korean business family.

The ministry said it would also evaluate if the airline’s corporate culture posed safety risks after its chairman’s daughter, Cho Hyun-ah, overruled the captain of a flight to force the plane back to the gate in the incident early this month.

Cho, who was head of cabin service at Korean Air, ordered a senior flight attendant off a 5 December flight after she was served macadamia nuts in a bag, instead of on a plate, in what she thought was a breach of service protocol in first class.

The director of the transport ministry, Lee Gwang-hee, said Korean Air could face 21 days of flight suspensions or a $1.3m (£0.8m) fine for violating aviation law. The punishment would be determined by a separate committee that could decide to increase or lessen it.

Cho family members have a direct 10% stake in Korean Air, which is part of the family’s Hanjin conglomerate.

Park Chang-jin, the crew member who was forced to leave the plane, told South Korea’s KBS television network on Friday that Cho had shamed and insulted crew members. A first-class passenger told the Yonhap news agency that Cho yelled at flight attendants who kneeled before her, pushed one flight attendant’s shoulder and threw an object at the cabin wall.

The incident made headlines around the world and enraged the South Korean public, leading to Cho’s removal from all executive roles at the airline.

The 40-year-old and her father apologised last week but a fresh furore has erupted over Korean Air’s attempt to foil government investigators and local media reports that exposed how employees were treated like servants of the Cho family.

“If the incident itself were not beastly enough, Korean Air’s response has been abominable,” Korea Herald said in an editorial. “In attempts that are akin to feudal servants trying to protect their lord’s daughter, Korean Air staff rallied to the rescue of Korean Air CEO Cho Yang-ho’s daughter.”

Park, the crew member, was visited by Korean Air officials who pressured him to give a sanitised version of events to investigators.

According to the ministry, the airline would be punished because Cho and Park lied during the investigation and because the captain was negligent in his duties.

However, the captain would not face any sanction as he was powerless to refuse a member of the family that controlled the airline, said Lee, the transport official.

The ministry’s statement indicated other airline employees also faced pressure to lie to the investigators but did not identify them.

Its investigation found Cho used abusive language to flight attendants but could not ascertain if she used violence. It will file a complaint against Cho with prosecutors later in the day.

Prosecutors earlier launched a separate investigation into the Korean Air case after receiving a complaint from a civic group. Prosecutors summoned Cho to be questioned on Wednesday, according to Yonhap.

The incident also highlighted the risks of investing in family-controlled companies where the primary goal was to further the interests of the family, not that of the shareholders or employees. Shares in Korean Air fell 2% in Seoul after the government announced its plan to sanction the airline.