Jasmine Stole

Pacific Daily News (Guam)

HAGATNA, Guam — The Korean Air passenger who got into a fight with a flight attendant on board a plane bound for Guam from Seoul, South Korea was sentenced to 28 months and nine days in federal prison on Tuesday.

Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood’s punishment for passenger Kwon Woo Sung is a total of 36 months, including the past seven months he served under house arrest and in federal detainment. This leaves 28 months and nine days left on his sentence.

Kwon, a dentist in South Korea, pleaded guilty to interfering with flight crew members and attendants. He was headed to Guam in April for vacation and ordered five beers in a 35-minute span before the crew decided not to serve him any more alcohol, according to court documents.

After he smoked a cigarette in the plane's restroom and admitted to it, he asked for another beer but was denied. Kwon then became angry and fought with the flight attendant, documents state. About five passengers had to help restrain him for about an hour until they landed in Guam.

Judge requests video of in-air melee on Korean Airlines flight

Kwon's attorney, Peter C. Perez, asked if Kwon could serve all or part of the sentence in home detention instead of prison. Tydingco-Gatewood gave the attorneys another day to look into home confinement as an alternative and the hearing will continue Wednesday.

Before the Tuesday's hearing ended, the judge said that this was the longest sentencing of her life.

Kwon was initially sentenced to three years on Nov. 8, but his attorneys, Perez and Edward Han, asked the judge for more time to discuss whether Kwon would accept the sentence or withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial.

The defense presented more testimony from Kwon, his 70-year-old mother Yang Young Hwa and Kwon’s psychiatrist on Monday. The defense also filed another 212 pages for the judge to consider in sentencing Kwon.

After Monday’s hearing, Tydingco-Gatewood returned Tuesday with the same punishment she pronounced three weeks ago.

Kwon’s crime is serious enough to sentence him that way, she said.

Kwon must also pay a $10,500 fine, $1,000 of which is for smoking in the plane’s restroom. The money will be taken out of Kwon’s $100,000 cash bail.

Kwon still has the option of withdrawing his guilty plea if he does not accept the court’s sentence.

Kwon and his mother fell to their knees at one point at Monday’s hearing, both in tears and pleading for leniency, bowing to Tydingco-Gatewood. Hwa’s tearful statements in court were heart-wrenching, the chief judge said, adding that this was one of the more emotional sentencing hearings in her 22 years as a judge.

During a lunch break after Tydingco-Gatewood sentenced him, Kwon and his mother embraced and cried loudly in the courtroom.

Kwon’s psychiatrist testified to treating Kwon for the past three years for mental and emotional issues, including anxiety, depression, anger issues and others.

Kwon expressed his remorse in testimony before the judge and in his apology letters to passengers, flight crew and Korean Air CEO. The letters were part of the 212 documents filed last week.

An attorney in South Korea also penned a letter that said Kwon may be charged with a crime when he returns home.

But there is no certainty that Kwon will be prosecuted in South Korea, Tydingco-Gatewood said.

The chief judge said she learned a lot about the Korean culture in this case. She praised the local Korean community for supporting Kwon. As an example, two people who never even met him stepped in to be his third-party custodians. Many Koreans in Guam and in his hometown wrote letters asking the judge for leniency.

You don’t see much of that, Tydingco-Gatewood said of the Korean community's response to Kwon's case.