Female Flight Attendants Accuse Asiana CEO Of Sexual Harassment

Asiana Airlines’ CEO, Park Sam-koo, is in hot water after allegations of sexual harassment have surfaced from female flight attendants. This comes as the #MeToo movement is growing globally, including in South Korea, causing more people to speak out. This all surfaced from online posts alleging his inappropriate behavior around female flight attendants.

Since first appearing online, many flight attendants have come forward to share their experiences with him. Here are just a few examples of what he has allegedly done, per The Korea Bizwire (obviously it’s important to keep in mind the cultural context here):

Park travels to the headquarters of Asiana Airlines in Seoul on the first Thursday of every month to cheer on flight attendants, according to the airline.

Standing in a circle in the lobby, Asiana flight attendants clap their hands with Park as part of the monthly corporate ritual, during which Park exchanges greetings with his workers, offers advice, and encourages female workers back on the job after maternity leave.

Park now faces a series of allegations of sexual harassment during a routine that many would expect from the North Korean regime, with many employees accusing the CEO of treating them like his personal cheering squad, as well some feeling pressured to shake hands with him.

Kim has reportedly said openly that he comes to meet female flight attendants to receive ‘energy’, according to the Hankyoreh, which cited a source close to the airline.

Following criticism over some of the female employees at Asiana Airlines having to perform a traditional New Year’s bow clothed in hanbok, traditional Korean attire, Park also began receiving bows from male workers.

I’ll be curious to see what comes of this.

(Tip of the hat to @ITSmartTours)

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Stanley Diamond

@sayeed I get your point, but everything must also be taken with a grain of salt. At least, we should be able to agree that right now it is a he said; she said scenario in the land of the WONs. If anything, there should be an internal investigation. It is not passing down judgement based on our own values, but it has been taken too far. Another way to look at it @Anne k and @sayeed is the difference between cultures. Every culture has its own practices and thinking, but having living for years in Korea it is a very male dominated society and where customers are kings and queens to the point of groveling on your knees. #Korean Air nut rage. If what they say is true, then it is shameful. If it isn’t, then new light should be shed on their own cultures for allowing something like this to happen. However, if the original article was true, then this movement has taken too far to cry about a handshake. We have yet to see the real article, so I guess we are all speculating. @Anne k I think a lot of men and not just women stand by for equality, so do not paint all men like that about egos or what not. If we are all about equality, then what about women holding the door for the men or paying for the first dates or so? What about women buying men presents on Valentine’s? If we are really talking about the #me too movement, then it should be fair across all boards. How was it all right for the ladies on The View to talk about how hot Idris Elba was? That is acceptable? No, absolutely not. Yet, Justin Timberlake gets backlash for professing to the world how hot his wife is. All he did was let everyone know he married a beautiful woman and he is truly in love with her. The #me too movement has great ideals, but it has become misguided.

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David Diamond

@Sayeed I actually did read the comments and acknowledged it. Perhaps if you applied a little reading comprehension you would realise? We have no way of knowing the vibe, but you seem comfortable drawing conclusions already. Also, making statements like women are generally smarter than men are as sexist as making the statement men are generally smarter than women.

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Sayeed New Member

@David Have you read the article and all the details in this post? Clearly handshake is not the only thing at issue here. But you still picked on that, why? Because it helps your argument of course! It seems quite obvious to me that this guy is one of these losers, and I have known a few of them both growing up in Asia and in the latter half of my life here in the US, who tries to get touchy feely with beautiful women under the guise of whatever, in his case "boosting" the morale. Did you notice the mention of forced hugs? Is that normal in Korea? But really, much more important than actual individual actions, it's really the overall vibe of these situations that matters here and we have no way of knowing that. But I will say, in my opinion, women are generally smarter than men, and they live with "men being men" all their lives, so they tend to pick up on these things very quickly.

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schar Guest

Lol.

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David Diamond

@Anne k Nice way to paint all males with a broad stroke, almost like the sexist misogynist who paint all females with the same broad stroke.

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