Broadcaster Park Soo-hong repeatedly apologized for the nuisance and preferential treatment allegations related to disembarking and reboarding a plane.
On the 26th, Park Soo-hong told OSEN in a phone call, "I cannot contain my remorse. There is no excuse, and it happened because of my ignorance," and repeatedly expressed his apology.
The nuisance and preferential treatment allegations against Park Soo-hong began with a post published on an online community on the 23rd. A review post claiming to have suffered after boarding the same Guam flight as Park Soo-hong spread. The author claimed that after boarding the plane, Park Soo-hong said he would get off when a child cried, and after luggage handling had already been carried out and the child stopped crying while waiting, he reversed his decision and said he would reboard. As a result, the airline had to go through the procedure of loading the luggage again, causing a departure delay of about an hour. As the post spread through online communities and social media, suspicions arose that he had received preferential treatment as a celebrity.
In response, on the 26th Park Soo-hong apologized, "I was so flustered when the child cried that I could not sit down right after boarding and made an immature judgment. I conveyed my intention to get off to the cabin staff because I felt that the passengers might be inconvenienced by the child's crying during the long flight. While waiting in the cabin, the child stopped crying and I expressed my intention to reboard, but I failed to realize that this could greatly delay procedures such as security checks. This happened entirely because of my ignorance of airline procedures, and there is no excuse whatsoever."
Currently staying in Guam and returning home tomorrow, Park Soo-hong said, "It happened because of my ignorance," "there is no excuse," and "the decision itself was wrong," taking all responsibility upon himself.
When asked about the situation at the time, he said, "I did not even think about it when the child's crying broke out, and in that situation I thought, 'I should get off' because I worried it would inconvenience the passengers, so I informed the staff of my intention to disembark. I was ignorant of processes such as baggage handling during that process," and added, "I feel so sorry that I would kneel and apologize for taking away passengers' precious time," expressing extreme remorse.
He went on to say, "Regardless of whatever intention I had to get off the plane, it was clearly a mistake that arose entirely from my ignorance," and "I feel an unrepayable apology to the passengers and staff who were harmed," bowing his head repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Park Soo-hong married Kim Da-ye in 2021 and last year had a daughter, Jae-i.
[OSEN]