The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Friday that a handful of its officials had been provided seat upgrades from the nation’s top airlines, adding to the suspicion of collusion between aviation officials and Korean Air, which has come under scrutiny over the so-called “nut row.”

The ministry found that 35 aviation-related officials, including the affiliated Seoul Regional Aviation Administration, were found to have received seat upgrades from Korean Air and Asiana Airlines between 2011 and 2013.

The local civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy has asked the prosecution to look into suspicions that the upgrades had been offered as favors. 

“Such allegations could be interpreted as bribery,” the group said in a press release, adding that the Korean Air executives suspected of giving such privileges to ministry officials could face breach of trust charges.

According to the code of conduct for civil servants, public officials are banned from such favors.

The ministry said it would launch an internal inspection into the mounting allegations and take appropriate disciplinary measures against those who received free upgrades.

Earlier on Friday, a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for a Transport Ministry official accused of leaking details of the ministry’s investigation into the incident to a Korean Air executive, saying his detention was necessary to prevent the destruction of evidence.

The Transport Ministry official surnamed Kim, who formerly worked for Korean Air, is suspected of having talked on the phone with the executive surnamed Yeo dozens of times over a period of three days following the start of the ministry’s probe into the incident on Dec. 8.

The nut row was a national uproar over the conduct of Heather Cho, the eldest daughter of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho, aboard a Seoul-bound Korean Air flight at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

She ordered the cabin crew chief of the plane that was already on the taxiway to disembark because she was displeased with the way she was served her macadamia nuts ― in an unopened pack instead of on a plate. She chastised the crew for not following the service manual for first-class passengers.

By Park Han-na and news reports
(hnpark@heraldcorp.com)