"Former Korean Air Vice President Cho Hyunah's Gangnam Apartment Put Up for Auction"

Woman Sense Reports "Home Seized Due to Unpaid National Taxes"

Cho Hyunah, former Vice President of Korean Air, reportedly had her home seized four times due to unpaid national taxes, and a compulsory auction case has also been filed with the court.

Cho Hyunah, former Vice President of Korean Air.

On June 18, the women's monthly magazine Woman Sense reported this information. According to Woman Sense, Cho has habitually failed to pay national taxes, resulting in her home being seized four times. The seizures occurred on January 16, September 25, and December 11 of last year, and on April 30 of this year.

Cho's residence is a luxury apartment called 'Rodin House' located in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The complex consists of the East Village with 33 units and the West Village with 19 units. In September 2018, Cho began living in one of the West Village units?where there is only one unit per floor?on a lease with a deposit of 3 billion won, and then purchased the unit for 4.5 billion won in June 2020, where she continues to reside. The unit has five bedrooms and three bathrooms, with an exclusive area of 244.66 square meters (74 pyeong) and a total area of 298.43 square meters (90 pyeong).

The specific amount of national taxes Cho has failed to pay cannot be confirmed due to the Personal Information Protection Act. However, the magazine noted that, given the main responsibilities of the tax collection department are the collection of unpaid taxes from individual and corporate businesses, it is highly likely that Cho failed to pay corporate tax or value-added tax.

While the National Tax Service has seized Cho's home, a compulsory auction case has also been filed with the court. Although the amount claimed in the compulsory auction of Cho's home has not been disclosed, it is estimated to be less than 5 billion won, considering that the appraised value of another unit in the same apartment complex was 4.75 billion won in January 2023.

In December 2014, Cho was indicted and detained for the airplane turnaround incident. In the first trial in 2015, she was sentenced to one year in prison for changing the flight route. However, on appeal, she was acquitted of the charge of changing the flight route and was instead sentenced to 10 months in prison with a two-year suspended sentence, leading to her release.