Crime and punishment
There’s one aspect of K-drama that makes them so enjoyable: even the rich and powerful are held accountable for wrongdoing and punished.
It’s escapist entertainment for people like us living in a society where the arm of the law is appallingly short, and where wealth and power protect all sorts of crooks.
South Korea has had its share of corruption and other scandals, plus dictators and other gross human rights violators. But the Koreans have sent so many of their former presidents to prison for various offenses, as well as top executives of chaebols or family-owned business conglomerates including their children.
Among the most memorable cases of Korean crime and punishment was “nutgate.”
The vice president of Korean Air (and daughter of the airline’s chairman and CEO), Heather Cho, a.k.a. Cho Hyun-ah, assaulted a flight attendant and the cabin crew chief on a Seoul-bound Korean Air flight before takeoff at JFK International Airport in New York on Dec. 5, 2014.
Cho’s beef: the macadamia nuts were served to her in the original closed plastic packaging instead of on a plate in first class. She reportedly ordered the flight attendant to kneel down, then fired the cabin crew chief and ordered him off the plane, which required making the plane taxi back to the airport gate, delaying the flight by 20 minutes.
A South Korean court found Cho guilty of obstructing aviation safety and sentenced her to 12 months in prison, although she was freed after just five months. The flight attendant and cabin crew chief were returned to their posts in April 2016, and received financial compensation.
Macadamia nut sales reportedly surged in Korea amid the scandal.
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The nut rage woman comes to mind following the conviction of Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, on three counts of fraud for lying about his crack cocaine abuse so he could buy a gun. The offense carries the penalty of imprisonment, but the US legal system can allow him to be spared from this.
I can’t imagine the son or any other close family member of a sitting Philippine president being convicted (although criminal charges have been filed once the president is out of power). Neither can I
