She was subsequently found guilty in a South Korean court of obstructing aviation safety and given a twelve-month prison sentence, of which she served five months.

[5][6][10][11] Korean Air issued an apology to passengers, but attempted to justify Cho's action, saying it was in accordance with her job of inspecting in-flight service and airplane safety.

[5] An aggrieved first class passenger contacted the airline about the incident she observed, and received a model airplane and a calendar in the mail by way of apology.

[12][full citation needed] Following Park's ejection from the flight and subsequent demotion,[13] the airline contacted him over a dozen times, pressuring him to tell the South Korean transport authorities that he had voluntarily resigned.

The flight attendant, however, believed that the government investigation would be unjust, and instead reported the incident directly to the media, initiating a public furor.

[citation needed] After the incident was made public, it was revealed that Cho had attacked a flight attendant in 2013 after being served improperly cooked ramen noodles.

[16] It was also known that Heather Cho's representative, Korean Air, pressured the victims (flight attendant and the chief) to lie about the incident, and downplay what happened while being publicly questioned.

But unaffiliated witnesses (including a first-class passenger) corroborated the victims' accounts by describing how Cho threw the packet of nuts and physically attacked the employees, and the plan was leaked, stirring the controversy even further.

[28] On January 12, 2015, a member of the National Assembly of South Korea released papers from Cho's indictment which showed for the first time that macadamia nuts were properly served in a bag, according to the airline's manual.

The Seoul Western District Court handed the sentence to Cho during a hearing,[32][33] saying she was guilty of changing the flight plan, an offense that carries the penalty of up to ten years in prison.

[36] In a separate suit, the Seoul Western District Court ordered that Korean Air pay the flight attendant 20 million KRW (about 18,000 USD) for attempting to coerce him to drop the case.

[44] The South Korean drama Persevere, Goo Hae-Ra on the Mnet channel included a filmed parody of the incident but, for unknown reasons, it was not broadcast.

[45] The incident helped popularize the Korean neologism gapjil (갑질), referring to the arrogant and authoritarian attitude or actions of people who have positions of power over others.