No Time for Refreshments
I don’t really know what to say as I think this story pretty much sums up itself in the news reports, but I’ll make some effort to contextualize how utterly ridiculous this event is. Jaebol families - ones that own ginormous corporations in Korea - are known to be corrupt and all-powerful, but if you told me this story as it was reported verbatim, I would be very skeptical.
Turns out that apples reallllllly don’t want to fall very far from their trees. AKA kids of really corrupt business owners also want to be as corrupt and insufferable as possible.
Let’s take the dynasty of Korean Air for example. Just about 3 years ago, older daughter and heiress of the Korean Air company Hyun Ah Cho caused a huge uproar when he aggressive antics on a flight out of New York over improperly presented nuts by a stewardess caused the entire airplane to land back at the departure terminal. The news struck a nerve with the Korean public who is generally anti-super-rich-and-entitled-corporate-families who think that they can treat whomever however they like. She was forced to apologize on national television and has since disappeared from the public eye.
Fast forward to earlier this month and younger sister of Hyun Ah, Hyun Min Cho, reportedly threw a cup of water at a client in a meeting.
Now their father Yang Ho Cho, Chairman of Korean Air, has suspended both from their positions.
Father not pleased. Source
It just about public shame either. Korean Air stock prices have taken a dive, just like it did during the first incident.
To be honest, I’m really at a loss for words. What do you think about this story? Do you think highly nepotistic companies are soon to be a relic of the past for Korea? Let me know your thoughts as always in the comments below.
