Lawyer criticizes YouTuber Park Wi for releasing KTX CCTV footage, calling it 'de facto private sanctions'

Amid growing controversy over YouTuber Park Wi's decision to release CCTV footage of a fall he suffered while using a wheelchair lift, a practicing lawyer has criticized the move, saying it appeared to be "de facto private sanctions" designed to invite public condemnation rather than serve any public interest.

The lawyer uploaded a short-form video to his social media account Monday under the title "Why Park Wi's YouTube video makes us uncomfortable."

He opened by recounting the incident. "Recently, a YouTuber named Park Wi had an accident while getting off a KTX train in a wheelchair," he said. "There is a lift on the KTX, and it seems the footboard can sometimes suddenly flip upward when a wheelchair is coming down the ramp."

He then explained what happened next. "To prevent that, a social service worker was pressing the footboard down with his foot. But Park Wi caught his foot on it and fell onto the platform — it was extremely dangerous," he said, adding that Park Wi subsequently obtained the CCTV footage from Korail and posted it on his YouTube channel.

The lawyer also addressed Park Wi's stated reaction. "Park Wi said, 'Even though it wasn't intentional, I was so angry just at the fact that his foot was on the ramp. He did apologize to me politely, but in that moment I couldn't accept it,'" the lawyer said. "Given that something terrible nearly happened to someone who cannot use his lower body, feeling that anger is completely understandable."

He then turned to why the footage's release had unsettled many viewers. "But why do we feel a sense of anger here? I thought about it," he said. "Looking at the CCTV footage Park Wi obtained, you can see that the social service worker pressing the footboard with his foot was trying to help Park Wi — it was not intentional, not meant to hurt him. The footage even shows him trying to help Park Wi after the fall."

The lawyer continued, noting that Park Wi himself had acknowledged on YouTube that he had not suffered serious injury and that the social service worker had apologized at the scene. "And yet he chose to release CCTV footage that allows the person to be identified," he said. "This looked less like a matter of public interest and more like an invitation for many people to pile on together — in effect, private sanctions."

Reflecting on the broader context, the lawyer said, "We have been taught through education to show consideration for the socially vulnerable. I agree there are shortcomings in reality and much that needs to be improved." He added, "Park Wi is a YouTuber with 1 million subscribers. He must have appealed to the public and his followers to understand and support people with disabilities as a socially vulnerable group. I dare say he has, knowingly or not, received a great deal of consideration as a result."

He then turned his attention to the position of the social service worker.

"But what about the social service worker? He is a young man in his early 20s with no social experience whatsoever, fulfilling his national service obligation," the lawyer said. "In a broad sense, this social service worker also falls within the category of the socially vulnerable." He criticized Park Wi for applying "an excessively strict and harsh double standard" to what was an unintentional mistake by someone without malicious intent.

He was particularly pointed in his criticism. "Being lenient toward yourself while being endlessly strict toward others — that is hypocrisy. We call this 'naero nambeul,'" he said, using the Korean expression for holding others to standards one does not apply to oneself. "Having your actions permanently enshrined in a video on an account with the enormous influence of 1 million subscribers, with no chance to explain yourself — the social service worker who helped Park Wi must have been terrified when word got out that the CCTV footage had been obtained."

Online commenters reacted with remarks including: "I just hope that young social service worker isn't suffering too much"; "Park Wi is no longer a member of the socially vulnerable — he is someone with power and influence"; "He got the CCTV from Korail? Could an ordinary person get that? No"; and "I completely relate to this."