Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin has come under fire for an Instagram post that appeared to poke fun at a waitress.



Chung is the eldest son of Lee Myung-hee, chairman of South Korea’s second-largest retailer Shinsegae Group. He is also the grandson of Samsung Group Founder Lee Byung-chul and a cousin of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong.



He had uploaded a photo of him and a waitress with the accompanying caption in Korean, “I look tiny and my neck looks longer. Getting top-class service here,” which seemed to suggest that he was comparing his apperance to the waitress.



(Instagram)



The picture was taken at Compère Lapin, a popular restaurant at the Warehouse District in New Orleans, where he had been spending the last few days on a business trip.



Within less than 30 minutes after uploading the picture, people began criticizing the chaebol heir for publicly humiliating the employee without blurring out her face.



Chung continued to post several more photos of him at other restaurants before removing the controversial post. However, he later uploaded the same photo again along with the words “posting again,” seemingly to mock the people who had been calling for him to apologize.



He deleted the second post as public outcry continued to grow.



“That is unbelievable,” said an employee from the restaurant to the Korea Herald over the phone. He added that he would look into the matter and that an official statement would be released later.



A day after the news became public the vice chairman changed his Instagram ID from @yongjinchung to @yj_loves.



By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)