Quadriplegic YouTuber Park Wi faces gapjil backlash over CCTV footage of KTX accident

Criticism over gapjil — the abuse of power — continues to mount against Park Wi (39), a quadriplegic YouTuber with about 1 million subscribers, after he posted closed-circuit television footage of an accident he suffered on a KTX train. Many who had supported him for championing the rights of people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups say they feel let down.

Park recently uploaded the CCTV footage to his YouTube channel "Wiracle," showing an incident that occurred while he was riding a KTX train.

According to Park, a social service worker assisting him accidentally placed his foot on a ramp, causing the wheelchair wheel to catch and throwing Park from his chair. "I was furious that he put his foot on the ramp like that," Park said. "He apologized politely, but in that moment I just couldn't accept it."

Critics, however, questioned whether Park had overreacted to an unintentional mistake, particularly given that the worker had already apologized.

The criticism was sharpest on the question of power: Park, as a YouTuber with roughly 1 million subscribers and considerable influence, had wielded that power against a social service worker who had no means to respond — and releasing the CCTV footage, critics said, amounted to gapjil.

Questions have also been raised about how Park obtained the footage. CCTV recordings are generally not disclosed without a court warrant under personal data protection rules, and some online commenters have alleged that gapjil may have been involved in securing the footage as well.

Many online users who had cheered Park on for speaking up for people with disabilities and other marginalized groups said they were disappointed to see him act as the more powerful party in this instance.

One commenter who identified herself as a longtime fan and the parent of a child with autism wrote online that her child could one day serve as a social service worker. She went on to say, "The young man in the CCTV footage Park released may not be an ordinary service worker. The video he posted could be a source of pain and discrimination for someone. It was truly a reckless act."

Park deleted the video and posted an apology, but public anger has not subsided — the apology post itself drew more than 14,000 comments.

Park was diagnosed with quadriplegia after a fall in 2014 and has since built a career as a YouTuber. In 2024, he married Song Ji-eun, a singer and former member of the group Secret.