The former vice president of South Korea's flagship carrier Korean Air Lines Co. has asked a U.S. court to dismiss a civil lawsuit that was filed by one of the firm's flight attendants involved in last year's "nut rage" case, legal sources said Tuesday.

Earlier in March, Korean Air flight attendant Kim Do-hee filed a suit against her former boss Cho Hyun-ah in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, seeking compensation for damages inflicted on her career and emotional well-being during last year's in-flight commotion widely known as the nut rage incident. 


"(The former executive) filed a motion to dismiss the case in New York earlier this morning," said one of Cho's legal representatives. 

Cho's legal team said the case should be reviewed in South Korea for the sake of efficiency, citing difficulties for a U.S. court to handle the case given that the Asian country is home to both the plaintiff and defendant, and that all related documents are currently written in Korean. 

The latest dismissal request requires the plaintiff to provide a response to the court by July 29.

On Dec. 5, Cho forced a Korean Air flight departing from New York back to the gate because of the way her nuts were served -- in an unopened bag instead of on a plate -- and to have Kim's supervisor disembarked.

The supervisor, Park Chang-jin, has said he is also mulling over a suit against Cho in the United States. Park's case was recognized as an industrial accident earlier this month by the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service.

Meanwhile, the Seoul High Court last month sentenced Cho to 10 months in prison but suspended the term for two years for changing an aircraft's flight route.

Prosecutors said they have submitted an appeal to reverse the court decision. (Yonhap)