Jeju 'Reed Field Taxi' Horror Story Was False, Police Say

Police have directly refuted a Jeju horror story that recently went viral on YouTube, saying the claims are groundless.

The Jeju Provincial Police Agency on Monday issued a statement rebuffing a YouTube video describing a woman who fell asleep in a late-night taxi and woke up in a reed field.

"Based on the content in question, we checked 112 emergency call records and the KICS (Korea Information System of Criminal Justice Services)," police said. "No reports matching the story have been confirmed to date."

Earlier, a Jeju-based YouTuber posted a video on Wednesday claiming that a friend of an acquaintance had drunk alcohol, boarded a taxi and fallen asleep, only to wake up in a reed field. The video alleged the passenger escaped while the driver stepped out of the car to make a phone call, then reported the incident to police.

In the same video, the YouTuber also claimed that a woman had been threatened with strangulation by a mobile phone charging cable in a public restroom near Jeju City Hall — and that lighting and emergency call buttons had since been installed there — and that Chinese nationals had used Jeju's visa-free entry regime to rob jewelry stores on the island before fleeing by plane, with those who had already departed still unaccounted for.

Police said the restroom incident at Jeju City Hall occurred in August 2016, and the jewelry store robbery involving the visa-free entry regime took place in May 2024. "Because the dates and locations were not specified in the video, there is a risk that viewers could mistake these for recent incidents in Jeju, heightening anxiety among residents," police said.

Police added that they would provide accurate information to prevent unverified claims circulating online from being mistaken for actual recent events.