Song Ji-eun (송지은), a former member of the girl group Secret, married disabled YouTuber Park Wi (박위) in October 2024. The couple garnered significant public attention after going public with their relationship and frequently share their daily lives on social media, much to the delight of their fans. However, Park Wi recently faced strong backlash from Korean netizens after publicly releasing CCTV footage of an accident he experienced on a KTX platform.
On May 21, Park Wi uploaded a video titled “The Reason for Releasing CCTV Footage” to his YouTube channel. In the video, he recounted an incident that occurred while he was traveling by KTX for a speaking engagement. Upon exiting the train, he was moving down a ramp in his wheelchair when a public service worker placed their foot on the ramp to secure it. Park Wi's wheelchair's rear wheel seemingly caught on the worker's foot, causing him and his wheelchair to fall forward.
Park Wi subsequently released the CCTV footage of the incident, admitting he was quite angry about the accident. “What angered me the most was that, although the public service worker didn’t do it intentionally, their act of putting their foot on the ramp really upset me,” he stated.
He also mentioned that he was startled at the moment and found it difficult to control his emotions. Although the worker politely apologized to him on the spot, he couldn't understand why the worker had acted that way.
Park Wi revealed that his greatest fear was the potential for severe injury if he hadn't reacted in time and had fallen completely. This fear, he explained, led him to fully express his immediate terror and anger.
However, after the video was released, while some netizens understood Park Wi’s fear of nearly being seriously injured and offered comfort, many more focused on his decision to release the CCTV footage.
Numerous netizens argued that the public service worker was clearly trying to assist Park Wi and apologized immediately after the accident. Yet, Park Wi went on to obtain and release the CCTV footage, even expressing strong dissatisfaction with the worker's actions in the video, effectively putting the worker on public trial online. They deemed this approach beyond reasonable bounds. As criticisms, including “disability is not a privilege,” poured in, Park Wi ultimately deleted the controversial video and issued an apology statement via his YouTube channel's community tab on May 22.
Park Wi stated, “I apologize for disappointing many people with the video uploaded today.” He admitted that at the time of the incident, the on-site staff had done their best to assist him and had sincerely apologized, but he had not considered the situation from their perspective.
He further explained that he had only viewed the worker’s mistake, made while trying to help him, from a negative angle. “My expression was immature, and my consideration was insufficient.” He apologized to all the staff who assisted him at the scene, as well as to the viewers of the video. Park Wi also promised to remember the advice given and to approach future content creation with a more mature attitude, using this incident as a lesson to handle related issues more cautiously and responsibly.
However, even after Park Wi’s public apology, the anger of Korean netizens shows no sign of subsiding, with numerous critical comments still flooding related discussion forums. Some netizens questioned, “YouTubers will do anything for views.” Others felt that instead of venting anger at the public service worker, a better approach would have been to use the incident to alert relevant authorities, for example, by requesting enhanced training to educate staff on precautions when assisting wheelchair passengers or improving ramp securing methods.
Some netizens also defended the public service worker, asking, “He just wanted to help, and he apologized immediately, so why make a video about it?” and “The rear wheel just seemed to get caught on his foot, which he used to secure the ramp. Who can guarantee no mistakes at work?”
Some even directly stated, “A public service worker is not your private assistant,” “Maybe it's better not to help in the future; let him figure out how to travel on his own,” and “He already apologized, and now he’s being publicly shamed. How far do you want to push that public service worker?”
Others believed that Park Wi, as an influential YouTuber, should be more mindful of his words and actions. “Your influence isn’t for blaming others,” “Who would dare to help in the future? Helping out of kindness only to be scolded and even filmed for public shaming,” and “It’s truly frustrating to take other people’s goodwill for granted.”
Some netizens even expressed aversion to Park Wi specifically requesting CCTV footage, obtaining the video, and then creating content to publicize it. They felt that since the other party had already apologized, the matter could have been concluded there, and there was no need to amplify the entire incident through a video.
Currently, Park Wi has deleted the controversial video and issued a public apology, but the incident continues to be a hot topic on the Korean internet.
