Garuda Indonesia has been forced to defend its controversial medical examinations of female job applicants in South Korea.
The airline recently interviewed applicants for 18 crew places on a new inflight service. Local Korean media reported that women were ordered to take a health check, during which a male doctor touched their breasts to check whether they had implants. The company said this would endanger them when flying.
A Garuda Indonesia official said stringent standards were applied at all stages of the recruitment process and physical check-ups were performed by a physician and local staff.
A spokesman for the airline, quoted in the Asian news website tempointeraktif.com, said: "We were only performing check ups, which were in line with our strict standards, I assure you," he said.
