Even on the plane, in the apology letter, and during phone calls, he repeatedly apologized and blamed all responsibility on his own ignorance. Broadcaster Park Soo-hong expressed his remorse to passengers who suffered inconvenience due to the reversal of his plane boarding.
The controversy over Park Soo-hong's reversal of plane boarding spread recently through online communities. A netizen who said they were on the same flight to Guam as Park Soo-hong said, "When Park Soo-hong's child's crying did not stop, he expressed his intention to get off the plane, and following the procedure for giving up boarding, the checked baggage was taken off the plane, but when the child's crying stopped, he said he would board again. The airline allowed reboarding and proceeded to load the luggage," they said.
Because the departure was delayed by about an hour due to the giving up of disembarkation and its reversal, criticism arose about the nuisance, and there were allegations of preferential treatment, saying that such a process may have been possible because Park Soo-hong is a celebrity.
On the 26th, Park Soo-hong posted on his personal channel an apology saying, "Recently, during the plane departure process, a delayed departure occurred due to my family. This caused great inconvenience by taking away many people's precious time, and it also caused harm to airline staff. I bow my head and offer my sincere apology."
Regarding the situation at the time, Park Soo-hong said, "As soon as we boarded, the child cried so loudly that we were flustered and I made an immature judgment. I thought that during the long flight the child's crying would cause greater harm to passengers, so I conveyed my original intention to disembark to the cabin staff," and he bowed his head, saying, "While waiting in the cabin the child stopped crying and we expressed the intention to reboard, but I did not 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."
Park Soo-hong added, "Once again, I deeply apologize with my head bowed to the passengers and airline staff who suffered great damage because of my shortcomings."
However, there was no evidence of any abuse of power or preferential treatment in the process of Park Soo-hong saying he would get off the plane and then expressing his intention to reboard.
The act of 'voluntary disembarkation' itself is not prohibited by regulation, and according to data that Yeom Tae-young's office of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee received from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and disclosed, there were a total of 2,965 cases of disembarkation at airports nationwide from 2019 to Aug. 2024. Excluding 417 involuntary disembarkations due to aircraft defects or flight delays/cancellations, 2,548 were voluntary disembarkations, accounting for 85.9% of the total.
It was also confirmed that if the passenger did not leave the outside area, reversing the intention to disembark is allowed by regulation, and this is known as a general principle rather than a procedure exceptionally permitted only for celebrities.
During the flight, repeatedly bowing his head worried that the child's crying might harm passengers, Park Soo-hong said after releasing the apology letter that he repeatedly said he was sorry and that there was no excuse even during a phone call with OSEN. Park Soo-hong said, "I cannot contain my remorse. There is no excuse, and this happened because of my ignorance," and he apologized again and blamed himself.
Park Soo-hong, who is currently staying in Guam and will return home tomorrow, said, "I didn't expect it, but the child started crying, and in that situation I thought, 'I should get off,' because I was worried it would inconvenience passengers, so I conveyed my intention to disembark to the staff. In that process, I was ignorant about procedures such as baggage disembarkation," and he showed extreme remorse, saying, "I want to kneel and apologize because I took away passengers' precious time."
Throughout the phone call, Park Soo-hong blamed himself for everything, saying, "This happened because of my ignorance," "there is no excuse," and "the decision itself was wrong." He repeatedly bowed his head, saying, "Whatever the intention to get off the plane was, it was a clear mistake that stemmed entirely from my ignorance," and "I feel an unrepayable remorse to the passengers and staff who were harmed."
[OSEN]