[Photo by Yoo Dae-gil = dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
SEOUL -- The scandal-stricken wife of Hanjin Group owner Cho Yang-ho apologized Monday as she turned up at a police station for questioning into allegations that she verbally and physically assaulted company employees, housekeepers, flight attendants and security guards at her home.
"I apologize for causing trouble," Lee Myung-hee, 69, told reporters waiting at the gate of a police station in Seoul. She has been banned from leaving abroad pending a police investigation.
The interrogation was the latest in a series of investigations by law enforcement authorities into illegal activities, abuse of power, assaults, tax evasion and smuggling of luxury goods by the ruling family of the Hanjin group. Seoul police chief
Lee Ju-min said Lee could be detained, based on the results of Monday's questioning.
"Based on the results of our investigation, we will decide whether to (detain) Lee," the commissioner told reporters, adding investigators have secured statements from at least 11 victims. "We have to investigate whether we can change her status today. We have a lot to investigate."
Police have secured testimonies from Hanjin employees and other witnesses since a video disclosed by an insider last month showed Lee shouting and violently pushing a worker around on top of a Hanjin hotel in 2014 when it was remodeled.
The video sparked numerous revelations and allegations by whistle-blowers, fanning public anger at misconduct and arrogant behaviors by the group's ruling family. Hanjin apologized for Lee's misconduct in the 2014 incident but refuted "groundless or excessive allegations" in other cases.
Hanjin has seen its image plunging due to a scandal involving Lee's youngest daughter, Cho Hyun-min, who was accused of throwing a glass cup and sprayed plum juice during a business meeting with advertising agency officials on March 16. She told investigators that she lost her temper because the advertising official did not properly answer her questions.
Last week, Lee's eldest daughter, Cho Hyun-ah, a former Korean Air vice president known for a "nut rage" incident in 2014, was quizzed by immigration authorities over allegations that she and her mother have illegally hired Filipino housemaids at their homes.
Korean Air and its branch in Manila are suspected of having acquired traineeship visas for Filipino women over the past decade to let them work as maids at the homes of Cho Hyun-ah and her mother.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
