April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korea’s customs authorities said on April 23 that they have carried out a search of Korean Air’s headquarters over suspicions that the family members of Chairman Cho Yang-ho sneaked luxury goods into the country without paying duties.

Officials of the Korea Customs Service also checked the airline’s three offices at Gimpo International Airport, as well as a Seoul office of Hanjin Travel widely known to be used by Cho Hyun-min, the former senior vice president at Korean Air and the chairman’s youngest daughter.

“Twenty customs officials carried out the raid to seize computer hard drives and relevant papers,” Ryoo Ha-sun, deputy director handling the issue at the KCS, said by phone from the central city of Daejeon.

The latest raid came amid allegations by some disgruntled former and current Korean Air employees that the chairman’s wife and their children brought in luxury goods from overseas via their airline without properly declaring them with customs.

Customs officials searched the headquarters of the national flag carrier and the homes of the chairman and his three children on April 21. Cho Hyun-min lives in the chairman’s home, while her sister and brother have their own homes.

Smuggling is an offense that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and fines up to 10 times the duties evaded.

Meanwhile, Korean Air said it will quickly set up a compliance committee led by a former Constitutional Court justice to strengthen internal oversight.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)