Image copyright AP Image caption Ms Cho Hyun-ah has begged the public for forgiveness over her conduct 
 
 Prosecutors in South Korea are seeking an arrest warrant for a Korean Air executive at the centre of a storm over how nuts were served to her on a plane. 
 
 Ms Cho Hyun-ah is alleged to have broken the law when she ordered the plane to turn back after nuts were served in a bag instead of a plate. 
 
 She is also alleged to have jabbed a flight steward with a document folder. 
 
 Ms Cho, who is also the daughter of the Korean Air chief, resigned and publicly apologised amid public outrage. 
 
 Prosecutors are also charging another Korean Air executive with allegedly attempting to cover up the incident during a subsequent investigation. 
 
 A court is due to review the arrest warrant applications next week. 
 
 South Korea's transport ministry said last week that it would take disciplinary measures against the airline in the wake of the incident. 
 
 Korean Air could face either a partial flight ban or a fine, the ministry said. 
 
 'Made to kneel' 
 
 Prosecutors said that they would seek to charge Ms Cho with in-flight violence and changing a flight route. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption South Korean sales of the nutritious nut are reported to have boomed in the wake of the scandal 
 
 A government investigation found that she screamed and shouted abuse at a flight attendant after he served her macadamia nuts in a bag. 
 
 She then ordered the plane to go back to the terminal to offload the flight attendant, who was fired on the spot before the plane proceeded on its journey from New York to Incheon. He has since been reinstated. 
 
 Ms Cho has since issued two tearful public apologies and resigned from all her posts. 
 
 She insists that she did not physically assault the chief steward, who says she made him kneel and made him beg forgiveness before jabbing him with a document folder. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Heather Cho spoke so quietly at a news conference she could barely be heard 
 
 Another Korean Air official is alleged to have ordered key witnesses in the case to change their evidence during a transport ministry probe. 
 
 Separately, an official from the transport ministry was arrested on Wednesday for leaking details of the government investigation to Korean Air officials. 

 South Korean prosecutors are seeking to arrest the former executive at Korean Air Lines who forced a flight to return in a row over a bag of macadamia nuts and a current executive for attempts to cover up the “nut rage” case. 
 
 Seoul western prosecutors’ office said on Wednesday that Cho Hyun-ah faces charges including inflight violence and changing a flight route. The current airline executive, a 57-year-old man surnamed Yeo, faces charges of pressuring airline employees to cover up the incident, according to an official at the prosecutors’ office. 
 
 Cho, the daughter of the Korean Air chairman, earlier this month resigned as vice-president at the airline and from all roles from the airline’s affiliates as public outrage mounted over her behaviour. On 5 December she forced a plane bound for South Korea from the US to return to a gate and forced off a flight attendant because the nuts were served in a bag and not on a plate. 
 
 Prosecutors launched an investigation over the incident after a civic group filed a complaint against Cho. Last week, the transport ministry also reported Cho to prosecutors and said it would sanction Korean Air Lines for pressuring employees to lie during a government inquiry. 
 
 Chang Man-yong, a transport ministry official, said the ministry had asked prosecutors to investigate an official suspected of leaking secrets about the ministry’s inquiry into Yeo, the 57-year-old Korean Air executive. The government official, surnamed Kim, worked at Korean Air for 15 years before getting a job at the transport ministry. 
 
 When as part of the ministry investigation Kim questioned the crew member who had to leave the plane, Yeo, the executive facing the charge of trying to cover up the incident, sat next to the crew member, Chang said. South Korean media reported that prosecutors raided Kim’s house and office, but the prosecutors’ office declined to confirm the report. 
 
 Cho, 40, and her father apologised earlier this month, but a new furore has erupted over Korean Air’s attempt to foil government investigators. The public was also enraged because the transport ministry let a Korean Air executive sit in during the questioning of the crew member and because a majority of the ministry investigators formerly worked at Korean Air, South Korea’s largest air carrier. 
 
 • The headline of this article was amended on 26 October to more accurately reflect the fact that the former executive was facing arrest 

 Story highlights Airline chairman: Heather Cho will be resigning from all posts with the company 
 
 Korean Air said previously she had resigned from some roles but was keeping her VP title 
 
 The chairman, who is also her father, blames himself, saying he raised her badly 
 
 Cho ordered a plane back to the gate after a flight attendant served nuts in a bag 
 
 The Korean Air executive who kicked up a fuss over a bag of nuts will resign from her remaining posts with the airline, the company chairman -- who is also her father -- said Friday. 
 
 The executive, Heather Cho, found herself at the center of a media storm after she ordered that a plane turn back to the gate and that a flight attendant be removed -- all because she was served nuts in a bag instead of on a plate in first class. 
 
 Although her role put her in charge of in-flight service, she was only a passenger on the flight and was not flying in an official capacity. 
 
 The incident, which took place last week at New York's JFK airport, stirred anger among the South Korean public over Cho's behavior. 
 
 Cho, whose Korean name is Cho Hyun-ah, resigned Tuesday from the airline's catering and in-flight sales business, and from its cabin service and hotel business divisions, the company said. 
 
 But the 40-year-old kept her title as a vice president of the national carrier, according to company spokesman. 
 
 That's going to change, her father, Cho Yang-ho, said Friday as he made a public apology for what happened. 
 
 Just Watched Airline nut incident an 'abuse of power' replay More Videos ... Airline nut incident an 'abuse of power' 03:06 PLAY VIDEO 
 
 Just Watched Executive goes 'nuts' over nuts on plane replay More Videos ... Executive goes 'nuts' over nuts on plane 02:59 PLAY VIDEO 
 
 Just Watched Improperly served nuts force plane delay replay More Videos ... Improperly served nuts force plane delay 01:05 PLAY VIDEO 
 
 She will be resigning from the vice president job and positions held in affiliate companies, he said. 
 
 Asked by reporters how the incident could have happened, the company chairman blamed himself, saying he'd raised her badly. 
 
 'Outburst of anger' 
 
 A local English-language newspaper, The Korea Times, said her behavior has deepened public resentment of South Korea's large family-owned corporations, known as chaebol. 
 
 "Through her outburst of anger, she not only caused inconvenience to KAL passengers, but also to those on other flights," the newspaper said in an editorial Tuesday. 
 
 The most annoying type of airline passenger is ... 
 
 South Korean authorities are now investigating the incident, which occurred on a flight due to take off for Incheon International Airport near Seoul. 
 
 Cho arrived at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Friday as part of the investigation, according to local TV coverage. She spoke in such a low voice that it was inaudible from the TV footage. 
 
 'An excessive act' 
 
 Korean Air apologized for any inconvenience to those on the flight and said there had been no safety issues involved. The plane arrived at its destination 11 minutes behind schedule, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. 
 
 "Even though it was not an emergency situation, backing up the plane to order an employee to deplane was an excessive act," the airline said earlier this week. "We will re-educate all our employees to make sure service within the plane meets high standards." 
 
 The airline also issued an apology on Heather Cho's behalf, Yonhap reported, in which she asked for forgiveness and said she would take "full responsibility" for the incident. 
 
 According to her biography on the website of Nanyang Technological University, Heather Cho joined the airline in 1999 and has since been "actively involved in establishing a new corporate identity for Korean Air." 
 
 She studied at Cornell University and the University of Southern California. 

 Cho Hyun-ah, also known as Heather Cho, daughter of chairman of Korean Air Lines, Cho Yang-ho, appears in front of the media outside the offices of the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, in Seoul December 12,... 
 
 SEOUL South Korean prosecutors requested on Wednesday a detention warrant for a former Korean Air Lines executive who delayed a flight because she was unhappy about how she was served nuts in first class. 
 
 The prosecutors have been investigating the former executive, Heather Cho, who is the daughter of the airline's chairman, on charges of violating aviation law and another airline official for abetting perjury. 
 
 "The prosecution this morning requested a detention warrant," an official at the prosecutors' office said, adding the request would be reviewed by the court. 
 
 Detention warrants are issued when the court believes there is a risk of flight or evidence tampering by suspects while investigations are ongoing. 
 
 A probe by the Transport Ministry concluded that Cho abused flight attendants in the Dec. 5 incident at John F. Kennedy airport in New York, and airlines officials may have tried to cover up the incident. 
 
 Public outrage grew when Korean Air initially issued what many in the country took to be a half-hearted apology that instead appeared to rationalize Cho's conduct in the face of what it said was inadequate performance by the cabin crew. 
 
 Cho resigned from all her posts at the airline and subsidiaries and apologized after she came under intense public outrage and ridicule. The airline's chairman Cho Yang-ho subsequently apologized and said her daughter's conduct was "foolish". 
 
 The plane pushed away from the airport departure gate as the incident was taking place on board. The pilot then brought the plane back to the gate to expel the cabin crew chief, after Cho complained about being served macadamia nuts by a flight attendant in a bag and not on a dish. 
 
 The crew chief said in a local television interview that Cho swore at him and jabbed his hand with a document folder, pointing her finger at him while he kneeled to apologize to her. 
 
 The prosecutors are also investigating whether Cho physically assaulted any of the crew members. 
 
 (Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
– Despite her tears and public apologies, former Korean Air exec Cho Hyun-ah is facing criminal charges from South Korean prosecutors over her meltdown on a Dec. 5 flight out of New York, the BBC reports. According to a government investigation, Cho (also known as Heather Cho) became enraged when a flight attendant brought her macadamia nuts in a bag, not on a plate, so she screamed at him and demanded the plane be brought back to the gate to dump him. The crew chief also talked to local media and said that Cho cursed him out and jabbed him with a document folder, Reuters reports. Although Cho, the daughter of Korean Air CEO Cho Yang-ho, has since resigned from all posts, notes CNN, Seoul officials want to charge her with inflight violence and changing a flight route, the Guardian reports. Other people could also face repercussions: A current exec with the airline with the surname Yeo is being investigated for alleged attempts to cover up what happened, the Guardian notes; when the flight attendant in question was interviewed for the investigation, Yeo sat right next to him. And it hasn't gone unnoticed that most of the transport ministry officials now looking into the case have been employed by Korean Air at some point; separately, the BBC notes that one official was arrested today for allegedly leaking details of the investigation to Korean Air. A detention warrant for Cho was requested this morning, meaning the court thinks the accused might skip town or mar evidence, Reuters notes. (One fringe benefit of "Nutgate": Macadamia sales in South Korea have surged.)