The head of a cabin crew who was kicked off a Korean Air Lines flight after a company executive raged over the way she was served macadamia nuts said he was insulted and forced to kneel down to apologize to her.

In a case that sparked public outrage and ridicule over her treatment of the flight crew, Heather Cho, the daughter of the airline's chairman who was head of in-flight service, reprimanded the cabin crew chief and one of his flight attendants who brought nuts to her.

She then delayed the flight, bound for South Korea, by 20 minutes by insisting the pilot bring the plane back to its gate at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport for the crew chief to be expelled.

"In a situation where she said 'Make contacts right now to stop the plane. I won't let the plane go', I dared not object to her, the owner's daughter," Park Chang-jin, the cabin crew chief, told state-run TV network KBS late on Friday, ending days of silence.

Cho is the eldest daughter of the company chairman, Cho Yang-ho. Two siblings are also executives at the airline. Park said that Cho swore at him, jabbed the back of his hand with a file case several times, and pointed her finger at him while he knelt.

The incident, first reported on Dec 8, has stoked both mirth and anger in South Korea, where the economy is dominated by powerful family-run conglomerates known as chaebol.

Heather Cho has been stripped of all titles at the airline and its affiliates, and faces an investigation by the government and prosecutors to determine whether she breached aviation laws.

She bowed deeply in apology before facing questioning by transport officials. Her father, the airline's chairman, expressed regret on Friday he didn't raise her better.

Korean Air Lines earlier excused her behavior even as it apologized for inconveniencing passengers.

Reuters - AP

(China Daily 12/16/2014 page11)