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Wife of Korean Air boss grilled on hiring maids without visas from PH

<p><strong>HIRING VISA-LESS PH MAIDS.</strong> Lee Myung-hee, wife of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, was again summoned by the Seoul Central District Court to review her arrest warrant for multiple assault charges last June 4. Lee was also grilled over her hiring maids without visas from the Philippines. <em>(Yonhap Photo)</em></p>

HIRING VISA-LESS PH MAIDS. Lee Myung-hee, wife of Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, was again summoned by the Seoul Central District Court to review her arrest warrant for multiple assault charges last June 4. Lee was also grilled over her hiring maids without visas from the Philippines. (Yonhap Photo)

SEOUL -- Lee Myung-hee, the wife of the chief of Korean Air Lines Co., on Monday appeared for questioning once again, this time over allegations that she hired housekeepers from the Philippines without due visas.

Lee, 69, arrived at the Seoul office of the Korea Immigration Service at around 10 a.m.

She is accused of hiring some two dozen maids from the Southeast Asian country for at least the past decade by sponsoring them with traineeship visas in violation of the law.

To work as housekeepers in Korea, a foreigner must obtain a visa that is issued to either ethnic Koreans from overseas or those who married Koreans.

The authorities suspect Lee had let the airline's human resources department and its Manila branch recruit the housekeepers. Korean Air officials from the two offices have also been questioned by immigration investigators.

Monday's interrogation comes after she was grilled by police twice in May over a raft of assault charges. She avoided an arrest as the court turned down her warrant last Monday.

She has been accused of habitually cursing at, and shoving employees of Hanjin, Korean Air's parent firm headed by her husband and Chairman Cho Yang-ho, and some construction workers hired to remodel her mansion.

Her eldest daughter, Cho Hyun-ah, who became infamous for her tantrums over nuts that delayed a flight in 2014, was also questioned by the immigration office last month over the same allegations. (Yonhap)

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