SEOUL: The matriarch of the troubled Korean Air dynasty was grilled Monday over allegations she used company resources to illegally hire foreign housekeepers, as a probe into the scandal-hit family widened.
Lee Myung-hee, 69, who was questioned by police twice last month over multiple assault allegations, was interrogated by immigration authorities over suspicions she hired more than 10 Filipino maids to work at her family home on false pretenses, by claiming they were working for Korean Air.
Korean law permits only ethnic Koreans or those married to Koreans to work as housekeepers.
The authorities suspect Lee had the airline’s human resources department and its Manila branch recruit the housekeepers and provide the Filipinos with documentation.
“I didn’t,” she replied to questions on whether she ordered Korean Air officials to hire the housekeepers, removed evidence by letting them leave the country after the allegations emerged, and had bought their silence.
“I will cooperate closely,” she told journalists after she appeared at the Korea Immigration Service.
A week earlier a Seoul court turned down a request from prosecutors to arrest Lee over multiple allegations of assault against drivers, housekeepers and company employees as well as construction workers renovating her home and building a Korean Air-affiliated hotel.
The alleged abuses range from cursing and screaming at employees to kicking, slapping and even throwing a pair of scissors at them.
A video that emerged last month showed a woman, reportedly Lee, shoving a female construction worker and throwing a pile of documents on the ground.
But the court said there was a low risk of Lee fleeing or seeking to destroy evidence, and that the charges were disputable.
Lee and her family have found themselves the object of public anger following a series of scandals.
Lee’s two daughters, who held management positions at South Korea’s national carrier, became viral sensations for temper tantrums which were dubbed the “nut rage” and “water rage” scandals online.
Her older daughter Cho Hyun-ah made global headlines in 2014 for kicking a cabin crew chief off a Korean Air plane for being served macadamia nuts in a bag rather than a bowl. She later served a short prison sentence.
Earlier this year, the younger sister Cho Hyun-min was accused of throwing a drink at an advertising agency manager’s face in a fit of rage during a business meeting.
Their father, Cho Yang-ho, issued a public apology over the “immature” behavior of his offspring and removed his two daughters from their management roles.
Authorities have since launched a flurry of official probes into the family’s reported abuse of workers, as well as allegations of smuggling and violations of immigration law.
Cho Hyun-ah was questioned for 15 hours until early last Tuesday by tax authorities as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations she used Korean Air flights to smuggle foreign luxuries.
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Mother of ‘nut rage’ Korean Air heiress grilled over illegal maids
Mother of ‘nut rage’ Korean Air heiress grilled over illegal maids
- Lee and her family have found themselves the object of public anger following a series of scandals
- Authorities have launched a flurry of official probes into the family’s reported abuse of workers, as well as allegations of smuggling and violations of immigration law
Chinese villagers struggle for heat as gas subsidies fade
XUSHUI: Almost a decade after China began curbing coal burning to stop thick winter smog, villagers in northern Hebei province are struggling to afford their heating bills with most gas subsidies now phased out.
In 2017, Beijing mandated that dozens of northern areas wind down the use of coal-fired stoves in favor of electric and natural gas-powered systems.
China’s central government allocated funds to refit stoves, but subsidies faded after three years and additional aid has drastically declined, local media reported this week.
In Xushui, a district in Hebei roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) outside Beijing, villagers told AFP they avoided turning on the heating because it drained their incomes.
“Regular folks can’t afford it... Spending 1,000 yuan ($143) per month on heat — no one can stand that,” a resident in his 60s told AFP at a farmers’ market.
“Everyone likes that (the air) is clean. There’s not one person that doesn’t like it,” he said, asking not to be named for fear of “trouble.”
“But... the cost of clean (air) is high,” he added.
On the clear, sunny day AFP visited, the warmest temperature was just under six degrees Celsius, with lows of minus seven.
Restaurant worker Yin Chunlan said that her elderly in-laws need to pay up to 7,000 yuan per year to heat their six-room village home.
Yin, 48, lives in an apartment in town and says her annual bill is a third of that.
“But it’s not the same in the village,” she told AFP.
“They have to set their heating much higher, and the temperature still isn’t as warm, so it wastes gas and wastes money.”
Yin’s in-laws often pile on extra blankets to stay warm.
“When I see it, it’s quite pitiful,” said Yin, wiping away a tear. “Nothing can be done.”
In one village, a woman in her 70s wore a green padded jacket underneath an apron as she crossed her outdoor courtyard.
Heating in her home is not turned on during the daytime, she said, showing AFP the system’s switchboard mounted above her stove displaying “off.”
The woman, who did not give her name, said the dial could reach 60C. When asked if the temperature inside could feel as warm, she laughed.
- Articles taken down -
Reports that villagers in Hebei were layering up under quilts to avoid costly heating peppered Chinese social media in the first week of the new year.
An article by Farmers’ Daily reshared in state media CCTV’s opinion section said in rural Hebei natural gas costs up to 3.4 yuan per cubic meter compared to 2.6 yuan in rural areas of Beijing.
Villagers told AFP they felt the huge price gap was unfair.
But the original article was quickly taken down, with republications, including the CCTV article, inaccessible days later.
China’s Ministry of Finance said in 2021 a total of 13.2 billion yuan in funds had been distributed for clean heating across Hebei.
But subsidies to support the installation of new systems and for gas bills, which had lasted three years, would not be renewed, it said in a letter.
The move came around the same time that international gas prices were driven up by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Last year, Chinese authorities reported national gas consumption growth had slowed.
The ministry, responding to a local proposal to increase financial support for provincial pollution control, said special funds would be arranged for additional subsidies in rural areas, but gave no details of the rollout.
A local Xushui government platform said in 2017 that some households would be eligible to receive 300 yuan in gas subsidies.
For villager Zhang Yanjun, that amount hardly made a dent in his bill of several thousand yuan per season.
The 55-year-old laborer said he had already spent more than 5,000 yuan on heating his home since October.
“If you give 300 or 200 yuan or something, it’s the same as if you gave no subsidies at all,” he said.
In 2017, Beijing mandated that dozens of northern areas wind down the use of coal-fired stoves in favor of electric and natural gas-powered systems.
China’s central government allocated funds to refit stoves, but subsidies faded after three years and additional aid has drastically declined, local media reported this week.
In Xushui, a district in Hebei roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) outside Beijing, villagers told AFP they avoided turning on the heating because it drained their incomes.
“Regular folks can’t afford it... Spending 1,000 yuan ($143) per month on heat — no one can stand that,” a resident in his 60s told AFP at a farmers’ market.
“Everyone likes that (the air) is clean. There’s not one person that doesn’t like it,” he said, asking not to be named for fear of “trouble.”
“But... the cost of clean (air) is high,” he added.
On the clear, sunny day AFP visited, the warmest temperature was just under six degrees Celsius, with lows of minus seven.
Restaurant worker Yin Chunlan said that her elderly in-laws need to pay up to 7,000 yuan per year to heat their six-room village home.
Yin, 48, lives in an apartment in town and says her annual bill is a third of that.
“But it’s not the same in the village,” she told AFP.
“They have to set their heating much higher, and the temperature still isn’t as warm, so it wastes gas and wastes money.”
Yin’s in-laws often pile on extra blankets to stay warm.
“When I see it, it’s quite pitiful,” said Yin, wiping away a tear. “Nothing can be done.”
In one village, a woman in her 70s wore a green padded jacket underneath an apron as she crossed her outdoor courtyard.
Heating in her home is not turned on during the daytime, she said, showing AFP the system’s switchboard mounted above her stove displaying “off.”
The woman, who did not give her name, said the dial could reach 60C. When asked if the temperature inside could feel as warm, she laughed.
- Articles taken down -
Reports that villagers in Hebei were layering up under quilts to avoid costly heating peppered Chinese social media in the first week of the new year.
An article by Farmers’ Daily reshared in state media CCTV’s opinion section said in rural Hebei natural gas costs up to 3.4 yuan per cubic meter compared to 2.6 yuan in rural areas of Beijing.
Villagers told AFP they felt the huge price gap was unfair.
But the original article was quickly taken down, with republications, including the CCTV article, inaccessible days later.
China’s Ministry of Finance said in 2021 a total of 13.2 billion yuan in funds had been distributed for clean heating across Hebei.
But subsidies to support the installation of new systems and for gas bills, which had lasted three years, would not be renewed, it said in a letter.
The move came around the same time that international gas prices were driven up by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Last year, Chinese authorities reported national gas consumption growth had slowed.
The ministry, responding to a local proposal to increase financial support for provincial pollution control, said special funds would be arranged for additional subsidies in rural areas, but gave no details of the rollout.
A local Xushui government platform said in 2017 that some households would be eligible to receive 300 yuan in gas subsidies.
For villager Zhang Yanjun, that amount hardly made a dent in his bill of several thousand yuan per season.
The 55-year-old laborer said he had already spent more than 5,000 yuan on heating his home since October.
“If you give 300 or 200 yuan or something, it’s the same as if you gave no subsidies at all,” he said.
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