A customer in a car at a McDonald's drive-thru in Ulsan throws bagged food at a worker in this video footage taken Sunday. The video taken by the dash camera of the car behind went viral and the offender was questioned by police for assault, Thursday./ Yonhap



By Jung Hae-myoung



A customer who threw food at a worker at a McDonald's drive-thru in Ulsan underwent police questioning on charges of assault, Thursday.



He said he would like to "sincerely apologize" to the part-time worker for his behavior, according to Ulsan Jungbu Police, Friday.



Police said the 49-year-old male customer, surnamed Kim, was questioned for about an hour late Thursday evening.



During the questioning, Kim said he got angry when his food came out as a single item while he ordered a set menu, and this was fueled by accumulated stress from work. He claimed he threw the bag of food but did not know it hit her face. He also denied he swore at the worker; the victim claims he did when he threw the bag.



Kim talked on the phone with the family of the part-timer before being questioned, according to the police.



He was booked for assault, and police are considering whether to add the charge of inflicting injury if the victim submits a hospital record. The part-timer has been receiving psychological counseling since the incident.



The alleged assault was recorded by a dash cam in the car behind the offender, and the driver posted the footage to an online community. This then went viral, causing public outrage.



In the footage, Kim throws the bag of food at the drive-thru worker and leaves. Along with the footage, the driver wrote, "My wife and I, who were waiting behind, were stunned by the behavior and the worker was crying after the incident."



Kim claimed there was a mistake in the order, but the company said there was not.



The driver handed the footage over to the store manager, who filed a complaint with the police. And the legal department of McDonald's Korea took over the legal procedure with the consent of the victim.



"I was going to file a lawsuit by myself after receiving the video footage and hospital records, but McDonald's Korea headquarters contacted me and said they would institute legal proceedings with me," the worker wrote on the online community.



"What I've experienced happens often. Please treat workers with respect so such a thing will not happen again. I'll also try harder to carry out my duty. I don't plan on quitting my part-time job here. I'm a bit afraid that such a thing could happen again, but like all workers in the service industry, I'll brace myself," she said.

