SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's budget carrier Jin Air, an affiliate of the country's flagship Korean Air Lines, avoided the revocation of license despite punitive measures by the transport ministry over its illegal appointment of a foreign national to the board of directors.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Friday that it had decided not to revoke Jin Air's license as negative ramifications, such as job insecurity for Jin Air employees and customer inconvenience, outweighed social benefits from the revocation.
Instead, the ministry decided to restrict approval of new air routes, registration of new airplanes and arrangement of non-regular flights by Jin Air.
The decision came over the illegal appointment of Cho Hyun-min, a U.S. citizen and the younger daughter of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho, as a member of Jin Air's board of directors from 2010 to 2016.
By domestic aviation law, only South Koreans are allowed to be registered as a board member of an airline.
The Cho family, including the younger Cho, has been under public criticism over a series of abuses and assaults of company and personal workers.
The younger Cho was questioned by policy in May for allegedly hurling a glass of beverage at a business partner during an advertisement business meeting.
Her elder sister, Cho Hyun-ah, is infamous for the "nut rage" incident in 2014 when she ordered a Korean Air flight from New York to return back to the boarding gate while the passenger plane was taxiing in her rage over the way she was served macadamia nuts in wrappers, not on a plate.
Lee Myung-hee, wife of the Korean Air chairman, was accused of assaulting and mistreating drivers, security guards and several laborers at home and affiliates of Korean Air. She was also grilled by police in May over the charges.
In April, the customs service raided the Korean Air headquarters over suspicion that the Cho family smuggled luxury goods without paying taxes.
