大鬧航班的大韓航空"公主"辭職

SEOUL, South Korea — Drunken and boorish behavior, cellphones, crying children and reclining seat backs have all led to flight rage. But a bag of macadamia nuts?

韓國首爾——醉酒後的粗野舉止、手機、哭鬧的小孩，以及後仰的座椅靠背，都會使飛機上的乘客大爲光火。但一袋夏威夷果仁呢？

Criticism has come nonstop for Korean Air Lines since it was discovered that one of its executives had ordered a flight from New York to Incheon, South Korea, to return to the gate to kick a senior staff manager off the plane in a tiff over how the executive was served the nuts.

有消息稱，大韓航空(Korean Air Lines)的一名高管，因爲乘務員給她送上堅果的方式而大發脾氣，之後這名高管下令由紐約飛往韓國仁川的一架航班返回登機口，並將一名乘務管理人員趕下飛機。大韓航空因此不斷受到指責。

This was no ordinary executive on Korean Air Flight 86, as it turned out: Cho Hyun-ah was not only in charge of in-flight service for Korean Air, but is also a daughter of the chairman of the family-run conglomerate that operates the airline.

事實證明，大韓航空KE86航班上的這名高管非同尋常：趙顯娥(Cho Hyun-ah)不僅是大韓航空機艙服務的負責人，其父還是經營該公司的家族企業集團的會長。

Ms. Cho, who resigned Tuesday after an outburst of another sort of rage on social and traditional media in South Korea, became irate on Friday after a flight attendant served nuts without first asking her, and in an unopened package instead of on a plate.

因爲韓國社交媒體和傳統媒體爆發了另一種憤怒，趙顯娥已於週二辭職。事件的起因是，上週五，一名乘務員未事先詢問就爲其送上了堅果，而且沒有將其盛放在盤子裏，而是直接送上了未開封的原包裝，趙顯娥十分憤怒。

She summoned the chief flight attendant and grilled him on the rules for serving nuts. He fumbled, Korean Air officials said, and Ms. Cho wanted him out, then and there.

她叫來了乘務長，並詰問後者爲乘客送上堅果的規程。大韓航空的官員稱，乘務長的回答有些笨拙，於是趙顯娥要求他當場下飛機。

The episode made Ms. Cho the latest symbol of excess at the country’s conglomerates, known as chaebol, whose controlling families have long been accused of running their companies like dynasties.

經過這一事件，趙顯娥成爲了韓國大型企業集團，即所謂的“財閥”(chaebol)長期以來行事囂張的最新標誌。公衆一直指責，控制着財閥的家族，經營企業的方式彷彿是王朝一樣。

Bloggers ridiculed Ms. Cho, who also uses the given name Heather, for “going nuts over nuts.” “She is a national embarrassment to all of us,” one Internet user said on Korean Air’s official Facebook page. Some even likened the Cho family to the family of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, who rule that country as a totalitarian fief.

博客用戶嘲笑又名希瑟(Heather)的趙顯娥“因爲一點零嘴就跟人鬥嘴”。一位網友在大韓航空的Facebook官方頁面上說，“我們所有人都覺得，她讓整個民族難堪。”一些人甚至將趙顯娥的家族，比作朝鮮領導人金正恩(Kim Jong-un)的家族。金正恩在朝鮮實行極權統治，彷彿該國是他的私人領地。

By Tuesday, with many South Koreans calling for a boycott of Korean Air, which they nicknamed “Air Nuts,” the airline announced that Ms. Cho had resigned as the head of in-flight services, though not as a vice president.

到了週二，因爲許多韓國人呼籲抵制大韓航空，還給該公司起了“堅果航空”(Air Nuts)的綽號，大韓航空宣佈，趙顯娥已經辭去機艙服務負責人的職務，不過並未辭去副社長一職。

“I am sorry for causing trouble to the passengers and the people,” Ms. Cho said in a statement on Tuesday. “I seek forgiveness from those who were hurt by what I did.”

“對於給乘客和民衆造成的麻煩，我表示歉意，”趙顯娥在週二的一份聲明中說。“我希望因爲我的所作所爲而受到傷害的人，能夠原諒我。”

Korean Air said the jet was only about 35 feet away from the gate at Kennedy International Airport when it returned. Still, the airline acknowledged that the decision had been “excessive” because there was no emergency.

大韓航空稱，飛機在肯尼迪國際機場(Kennedy International Airport)返回時，離登機口只有大約35英尺（約合10米）。但該公司承認，返回登機口的決定是“過分”的，因爲並未發生緊急事件。

But the company also offered an excuse for Ms. Cho’s behavior, saying that it was “natural” for her to chastise the crew for improper in-flight service and that the decision to take the plane back to the gate had been made in consultation with the pilot.

不過該公司也給趙顯娥的舉動找了一個理由，稱因機艙服務不當，她“自然”要懲罰乘務人員，並表示讓飛機返回登機口的決定是與機長協商後作出的。

The explanation, however, failed to soothe an angry South Korean public.

然而，這樣的解釋未能緩和韓國民衆的憤怒。

The episode cannot be explained “except by the fact that Vice President Cho Hyun-ah was a member of the chairman’s family,” said the influential civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. It said the case exemplified how the personal wishes of the family of a leading South Korean conglomerate often override official regulations and common sense.

只有“副社長趙顯娥是會長的家庭成員這一事實”才能解釋此事，頗有影響的民間組織參與民主人民聯盟(People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy)說。該組織稱，這一事件體現出，控制韓國大型企業集團的家族，可以將個人意願凌駕於官方規章和常識之上。

“No pilot is going to oppose an order from the daughter of the company owner,” said Lee Gae-ho, a lawmaker affiliated with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the main opposition party.

“沒有哪個機長敢反對公司老闆的女兒給的命令，”主要反對黨新政治民主聯合(New Politics Alliance for Democracy)的議員李介昊(Lee Gae-ho)說。

The South Korean Transportation Ministry said it was investigating whether Ms. Cho’s behavior had violated the country’s aviation safety laws, which bar passengers from causing disturbances, like using violent language or yelling. The domestic news media reported that Ms. Cho had screamed at the crew.

韓國交通部稱，正在調查趙顯娥的行爲是否違反了該國的航空安全法律。相關法律禁止乘客製造干擾，如使用激烈言語或高聲叫喊。韓國國內媒體報道稱，趙顯娥曾對乘務人員大喊大叫。

Like other South Korean tycoons, Ms. Cho’s father, Cho Yang-ho, the chairman of the Hanjin Group, has placed his three children in executive posts in the conglomerate, which also runs shipping, logistics and hotel businesses.

和韓國的其他巨頭一樣，趙顯娥的父親、韓進集團(Hanjin Group)會長趙亮鎬(Cho Yang-ho)在企業集團內部爲三個子女安排了高管的職位。該集團還經營海運、物流和酒店業務。

A handful of family-controlled conglomerates dominate the South Korean economy. Although they own relatively small stakes in their corporate empires — the Cho family owns about 10 percent of Korean Air, for instance — they are known to wield unchallenged authority over their subsidiaries. The units are interlocked by cross-shareholdings, and family members and loyal executives occupy important corporate posts.

少數幾家由家族控制的企業集團主導着韓國經濟。儘管在自己的企業帝國持有的股份相對較少——比如，趙顯娥的家族僅持有大韓航空約10%的股份——但衆所周知的是，他們對其子公司擁有不容挑戰的權威。這些企業通過交叉持股的方式環環相扣，家族成員和忠心耿耿的高管把持着重要職位。

Business elites in South Korea have long faced criticism that they act as if they were above the law. In 2007, Kim Seung-youn, chairman of the Hanwha conglomerate, was briefly jailed for attacking bar workers who had gotten into a drunken brawl with his son. While his bodyguards watched, Mr. Kim assaulted one of the victims with a metal pipe, the police said. He was released when his sentence was suspended.

長期以來，韓國的商業精英一直被批評，行事方式彷彿自己可以凌駕於法律之上一樣。2007年，韓華(Hanwha)企業集團會長金升淵(Kim Seung-youn)因爲襲擊與其子酒後發生衝突的酒吧工作人員而被短暫監禁。警方稱，金升淵當着保鏢的面，用一根金屬管毆打其中一名受害者。後來，金升淵在得到緩刑後獲釋。

And in 2010, a member of the family that controls the SK conglomerate received a suspended prison term for hitting a 52-year-old former union activist 13 times with an aluminum baseball bat while his executives watched. He then wrote out a check for 20 million won, about $18,000, on a company account and threw it in the victim’s face.

2010年，控制着SK集團的家族的一名成員，因爲當着多名高管的面，用一根鋁製棒球棒擊打一名52歲的前工會活動人士13下而被判緩刑。後來，他用公司賬戶開了一張2000萬韓元（約合11萬元人民幣）的支票，扔在了受害人臉上。

Some South Korean news outlets said that Korean Air’s action against Ms. Cho on Tuesday was superficial because she retained her vice-presidential title, as well as her executive roles in other subsidiaries of her father’s Hanjin Group.

一些韓國新聞媒體稱，大韓航空週二對趙顯娥的處理只是表面文章，因爲她保住了副社長的職位，也保住了在其父的韓進集團其他子公司中的高管職務。