Cho Hyun-ah, of Korean Air nut-rage fame, granted divorce

Former Korean Air Vice President Cho Hyun-ah walks out of the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on May 2. 2019. [YONHAP]

The Seoul Family Court granted a divorce Thursday for Cho Hyun-ah, former Korean Air Vice President who made international headlines in December 2014 for the “nutgate” scandal, and her husband.

Cho was the central figure in the “nutgate” scandal, also referred to as the nut-rage incident, in which she forced a plane to return to its gate following a confrontation over in-flight service involving an attendant serving packed nuts.

Cho, the daughter of the late Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, was later charged with obstruction and illegally changing the flight route and was sentenced to one year in prison by the Seoul Western District Court.

The couple were married in 2010 and have two children together. The husband filed for a divorce in April 2018. He claimed that Cho had physically and verbally abused him and their children during their marriage and requested sole custody. Cho in turn accused her husband of alcoholism and filed for a divorce separately in June 2019.

The Seoul Family Court on Thursday ordered Cho to pay 1.33 billion won ($993,700) in one-time alimony to her husband, while granting Cho primary custody of their two children. The husband was ordered to pay 1.2 million won for each of their two children every month to Cho.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@jooongang.co.kr]