Cho Hyun-ah, Korean Air’s senior vice president, recently delivered twins in the United States, sparking speculation that her travel to Hawaii could have been intended to obtain U.S. citizenship for the children.

Cho, the eldest daughter of Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang-ho, has been in Hawaii since early last month and delivered twin sons last week.

The company explained that Cho had already been transferred to the U.S. as of March 20 to oversee hotel projects that the air carrier’s U.S. branch was carrying out.

“(The children) will fulfill their responsibility and duty as Koreans, including military duty,” the company said in a statement.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)