Thai flight attendant who worked for Korean Air faced racist abuse after sharing farewell post online

A Thai former flight attendant who previously worked for Korean Air came under attack online after posting photos of herself in uniform alongside a brief reflection on her time at the airline.

The woman, identified by Thai media as Jam, uploaded several photos to her personal Instagram account on Feb. 28, including images taken with colleagues while she was still in uniform.

Farewell post drew hostile comments

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In the caption of her farewell post on Instagram, she wrote, referring to the airline by its initials: “Once a dream, always a lesson later KE."

Soon after the post went up, Korean-language comments began appearing under it, with several users mocking her appearance and questioning whether she had really worked as cabin crew for the airline.

“A flight attendant, really? A crew of Korean Air?”

“Are you a Southeast Asian?”

“Seriously, if this person offered me a menu while I was on a plane, I think I’d pass out… Where can I file a complaint about this bizarre situation?”

Among the remarks highlighted by Thai and Korean media were comments asking whether Korean Air had “started hiring [just] anyone”, while others compared her looks to Shin Bong Sun, a South Korean comedian whose name has previously been used in online appearance-based insults.

Other comments took on a racial tone, with some users asking whether she was Southeast Asian and making disparaging remarks about her background, according to The Thaiger.

Jam did not publicly respond to the comments.

Thai and Korean users stepped in

The comments triggered pushback from Thai users, many of whom defended her and criticised the tone of the remarks left by Korean commenters.

Other users urged Jam not to take the criticism seriously.

At the same time, some Korean users visited her account to apologise, saying the offensive comments did not represent all Koreans, reported Chosun Daily.

They also offered words of comfort and condemned the behaviour as shameful, leaving comments such as, "This is a national embarrassment" and "I'm ashamed."

Bullying problem in South Korea

Thai media coverage of the incident also widened into criticism of South Korea’s online harassment culture, with some reports linking such behaviour to past cases involving celebrity figures who had committed suicide after having faced sustained abuse online, such as former f(x) member Sulli, Kara member Goo Hara and Jonghyun from Shinee.

The backlash also comes amid a recent wave of online friction between some South Korean and Southeast Asian netizens, after arguments over concert etiquette at a Day6 performance in Kuala Lumpur escalated into wider exchanges involving race, language and cultural stereotypes.

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