South Korean man sentenced to 6 months in jail for causing commotion on Hawaiian Airlines flight

A federal judge wants to know how a man in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody was able to get a bottle of alcohol before boarding a Hawaiian Airlines flight back to his native South Korea.

The man, 48-year-old Kyong Chol Kim, finished off a 23-ounce bottle of whiskey, then caused enough of a commotion to force the pilot to return to Honolulu four hours into the flight.

U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Kim on Wednesday to six months in jail for interfering with flight attendants and crew members and ordered him to repay Hawaiian Airlines the $172,337 it cost to turn the plane around, resume the flight and accommodate the passengers waiting in Korea to take the aircraft back to Hawaii.

Watson also ordered the U.S. attorney to submit by Wednesday a letter from the local U.S. Customs and Border Protection office explaining how Kim was able to obtain the whiskey.

Kim arrived in Hawaii on Feb. 25 to visit his sister on Maui. He was refused entry for not having the proper documentation and was taken to the Federal Detention Center until he could be put on a flight back to South Korea two days later. Before Kim boarded Hawaiian Airlines Flight 459, witnesses saw a DFS Hawaii worker hand Kim a package containing the bottle of whiskey.

Kim and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Ayabe had endorsed the court’s Pretrial Services sentencing recommendation of time served, which would have allowed him to immediately return to South Korea. But Watson rejected the recommendation, saying he found Kim’s drunken, assaultive behavior reprehensible.

The judge also said he’s been seeing cases like Kim’s about every six months.

“I’m really sick and tired of it,” Watson said.

Watson also noted that Kim has a criminal history in this country that includes criminal property damage, possession of a stolen vehicle and sexual assault.

Speaking through an interpreter, Kim apologized for his actions and said the whiskey made him lose his power of reasoning and sanity to create a chaotic situation.

The government says Kim kept bothering a 10-year-boy sitting next to him. When a flight attendant told him in Korean to leave the boy alone, he stepped on the boy’s shoulder in order to lunge at the flight attendant.

U.S. military service members on board helped the flight attendant put flex cuffs on Kim and take him to the back of the aircraft where they sat with him. The pilot turned the plane around after Kim continued yelling at the top of his lungs and attempting to get out of his restraints.

Kim’s lawyer, Jin Tae Kim, told Watson his client doesn’t remember what he did and was shocked to see his behavior on video.

The defendant runs a motel in Seoul and has promised to pay the restitution. Watson said that while the motel is worth more than the amount of the restitution, Hawaiian Airlines is unlikely to recoup its losses.