Lee Myung-hee, spouse of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, speaks to media as she arrives at the Seoul Metropolitan Policy Agency for questioning in Seoul, South Korea, on May 28, 2018. The wife of South Korea's flagship air carrier Korean Air Lines' chief was questioned by police Monday over assault charges. (Xinhua/Lee Sang-ho)
SEOUL, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The wife of South Korea's flagship air carrier Korean Air Lines' chief was questioned by police Monday over assault charges.
Lee Myung-hee, spouse of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Policy Agency at about 10 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) as a criminal suspect for assaults and abusive words toward employees.
The 69-year-old director of Ilwoo Foundation bowed her head and apologized, saying it was sorry to cause troubles and she will sincerely face investigations.
Lee, dressed in a dark-colored attire and a blue muffler, did not answer questions by journalists whether she hurled scissors and flowerpots at employees.
She was accused of shoving and cursing workers in a construction site to expand a hotel owned by Hanjin Group, one of South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerates, in 2014. Korean Air is an airline unit of the group.
Lee was charged with assaulting and abusing workers who remodeled her mansion in 2013, while habitually beating and cursing company employees, chauffeurs, security guards and housekeepers. Police reportedly secured more than 10 victims.
The police is considering charging Lee against habitual assaults and special violence, which punishes a criminal with a prison term regardless of the settlement with the victim. By law, simple violence cannot be punished if the criminal settles with the victim.
Protesters from progressive political parties and liberal civic groups chanted outside the police agency with placards on hand that read "Cho Yang-ho Family Out" and "Break up Chaebol." Chaebol refers to South Korean conglomerates controlled by families only with a handful of shares in a complex web of crossholdings.
Lee and her two daughters, including Cho Hyun-ah infamous for the "nut rage" case, have been probed over abuse, assault, tax evasion and smuggling of luxury goods.
