Hi all,

Korea's major airlines have been facing significant issues within the past two weeks:

Asiana Airlines

Over the past two days, some passengers on OZ's overseas flights have not had meals or faced delayed departures because of the late arrival of meals. OZ switched supplier from LGS Sky Chef to Gate Gourmet of Korea earlier this year but a fire at a Gate Gourmet facility forced a delay to the contract's start. Sharp DO&CO Korea was then called in temporarily, but was unable to keep up with demand, hence the current meals disruption on flights. This resulted in Sharp's head killing himself this week, for fear of the damages he would have to pay to OZ, for the lack of meals.

Related to this is a scandal around why OZ actually changed meal suppliers in the first place. Park (OZ's Chairman) allegedly ended OZ's contract with its in-flight meal supplier of 15 years because the company refused to invest 150 billion won ($146 million) in a company he owned. Analysts have said Park's "irrational" attempt to attract investment to rebuild his fallen empire has led to OZ's unprecedented meal shortage, raising doubts about his managerial capability and integrity. OZ employees are moving to organize a rally on Friday, to protest Park's mismanagement

See:
- http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/20 ... urce=dable.
- http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/20 ... 51716.html.

Korean Air

OZ's issues, of course, follows recent scandals around KE's management. Prosecutors on Monday applied for an arrest warrant for KE Chairman, Cho Yang-ho. Cho is to stand trial in the Seoul Southern District Court for fraud, embezzlement, breach of trust and tax evasion. The 69-year-old is accused of paying commissions to a company owned by his daughter Hyun-min for the supply of luxury goods to Korean Air, and using company money to pay the legal fees of his other daughter, Cho Hyun-ah, when she was on trial over the 2014 widely-reported "nut rage" scandal.

Just as OZ staff plan to protest this week, KE staff protested back in May over the alleged corruption in the company. This was specifically tied to a Cho family member being accused of throwing a drink at people at a business meeting in April. In response to the public backlash, chairman Cho Yang-ho has made his daughters step down from their positions at the airline and made a public apology for their behavior. But airline pilots, flight attendants and staff said they would continue to protest on the streets until Cho also steps down. They also want more transparency.

See:
- http://english.chosun.com/site/data/htm ... 01775.html.
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sout ... SKBN1I50H1.

Jin Air

Separately, LJ has faced having its operating licence revoked by Korean authorities, over allegations that it violated transport law by appointing a non-Korean - controlling family member Cho Hyun-min - as a board director. Cho, 35, is a U.S. citizen and the youngest daughter of Korean Air Lines Co Ltd Chairman Cho Yang-ho. She stepped down as senior vice president at Jin Air in April after reports of inappropriate conduct at a business meeting prompted an outcry over the behavior of families running conglomerates. A hearing will be held soon on whether to revoke the licence.

See:
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jin- ... SKBN1JP0PE.
- http://aviationweek.com/awincommercial/ ... government.

Hopefully Korea can gets it act together and deal with all of these aviation scandals!

Cheers,

C.

Korea has a long and disgustingly unprofessional history of nepotism. The Chaebols, as they’re called, are facing strong backlash recently, sparked largely by the nut rage incident. Koreans care very much about their image as a people and nation abroad, and having Korean Air bear such controversy caused outrage across the country. I’m hoping this triggers a revolution in the business culture. Recently the government will enact a 52hr work week cap. Times are changing in Korea, we’ll see how this goes.

It is always surprising that behind that modern image of Korea there is this crony capitalism.

That is the reason I don't buy or use any single South Korean brand; I don't trust those Korean mega-corporations.

SCQ83 wrote:

It is always surprising that behind that modern image of Korea there is this crony capitalism.

That is the reason I don't buy or use any single South Korean brand; I don't trust those Korean mega-corporations.

This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You don’t think cronyism and office politics go around in other countries? Yea, clearly those untrustworthy Korean companies like Samsung are doing everything wrong, by offering good product at low price.

If you look at the history of South Korean economy, chaebol is a major reason why it grew so fast.

That being said, yes, it’s probably time for some serious reform and phase it out.

This resulted in Sharp's head killing himself this week, for fear of the damages he would have to pay to OZ, for the lack of meals.

Thats unfortunate, but this type of reaction is a prevalent in their culture isnt it? If so, is it only Korean or is it an occurrence in other countries in the region as well?

thekorean wrote:

This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You don’t think cronyism and office politics go around in other countries? Yea, clearly those untrustworthy Korean companies like Samsung are doing everything wrong, by offering good product at low price.

If you look at the history of South Korean economy, chaebol is a major reason why it grew so fast.

That being said, yes, it’s probably time for some serious reform and phase it out.

Of course, China is probably 100 times worse. Like those Xiaomi phones (that now are becoming popular in some European countries) that apparently spy your data and send it to the Chinese government. That is why I would try to buy preferabily American and Japanese brands; I trust companies in those countries need to comply with more rigorous policies. Even if I am well aware a lot of stuff is made in China, and Samsung parts are in many other brands around the world.

SCQ83 wrote:

It is always surprising that behind that modern image of Korea there is this crony capitalism.

That is the reason I don't buy or use any single South Korean brand; I don't trust those Korean mega-corporations.

Good luck finding a smartphone, tablet or any other mobile gadget/computing device that doesn't contain a single Korean-made component.

Having said that, I have a very low regard for the executives in charge of the two major Korean airlines, and feel sorry for the front-line staff that have to take it on the chin.

Two major FSCs in such a small nation, yet nowhere to really reliably fly on. What a shame.

This resulted in Sharp's head killing himself this week

It wasn't Sharp's head who committed suicide. It was the head of Hwa-in CS, the subcontractor of OZ responsible of packaging and delivering the inflight meals.

Having been to Korea and flown onboard Korean Air and Asiana to Incheon and from Gimpo and Busan as well I can tell you the country and it's airlines are highly developed and high quality. There might be spectacular hickpups like the famous nut rage but overall the onboard service and comfort are above european levels as far as I can say. And Incheon airport is next to Changi in terms of speed and ease of use.

http://m.ichannela.com/news/main/news_d ... 0000101651
If I am reading the report correctly, Asiana is throwing away some pre-packaged in flight meal while flights are not served with meals, because they have tell passengers their flights will not have meals and have given out vouchers to them so they don't want to duplicate the benefit for passengers and Asiana claims it's because the number of prepared food was not enough for all passengers on flights?

And apparently there is a report saying back in the first day when the meal crisis occur, while all those flights that goes out without meals and getting delayed, the flight that the president take remain unaffected

And then there's also report that Asiana subsidiary Air Seoul tell their customer that their flight during the summer season have been cancelled last week with a short notice and making their customers difficult to find alternatives

And that female cabin crew are force to be touched by and forced to sign songs to praise the president of Asiana...?