YouTuber Park Wi faces calls to strip Seoul ambassador role after CCTV controversy

YouTuber Park Wi is facing the possible loss of his Seoul Metropolitan Government promotional ambassador post amid a controversy over his decision to release CCTV footage of a fall he suffered on a KTX train. A formal civil complaint has been filed questioning whether he should retain the role.

A complaint was recently submitted through the National Sinmungo public petition system, asking the city to determine whether grounds exist to dismiss Park from his ambassador position and whether he remains fit to carry out its duties.

The person who filed the complaint, identified only as A, said the petition was not a demand for Park's immediate dismissal. Rather, A said, it was a request for Seoul to formally assess — under the current city ordinance governing promotional ambassadors — whether Park can still appropriately perform his ambassador duties in light of the CCTV disclosure controversy, and to provide a written response with its reasoning.

A also said that in a phone call with a Seoul city public relations official on Tuesday, the official indicated the city was not taking the matter lightly and was currently reviewing it.

Park was appointed as a Seoul Metropolitan Government promotional ambassador in June last year, with his term running through June next year.

Park said that on Aug. 14, as he was disembarking from a KTX train, his wheelchair slipped while coming down a portable ramp when the wheels caught on the foot of a social service worker holding the ramp in place, causing him to fall. He subsequently posted CCTV footage of the incident on his YouTube channel "Wiracle," saying he did so to highlight the need to improve mobility conditions for people with disabilities and prevent similar accidents.

The move drew criticism, however, as the social service worker who had been assisting Park had already apologized at the scene, and many argued it was inappropriate to release footage of an accident that occurred during an act of assistance to a channel with 1 million subscribers.

As the backlash grew, Park deleted the video and apologized. "I failed to consider the position of the worker who did their best to help me on the scene and offered a sincere apology," he said. "My way of conveying the message was immature, and I did not think it through."

Despite the apology, criticism has continued.

Park's YouTube subscriber count, which had once exceeded 1 million, has since fallen to around 970,000, and several lectures and talk concerts scheduled before the controversy were canceled.