Park Wi, controversy over wheelchair fall accident video release... 1 million subscribers lost

After YouTuber Park Wi released the CCTV footage of his fall accident, controversy arose, leading him to delete the video and post an apology. Along with this, as of 9:40 a.m. on the 24th, the number of subscribers to Park Wi’s YouTube channel was recorded at 997,000, dropping below one million. On the 21st, Park Wi shared a video titled ″The Reason for Releasing the CCTV Footage,″ showing the moment he fell while descending a KTX ramp in a wheelchair. He explained that the accident occurred because the foot of a social service worker was placed on the ramp, causing the wheelchair wheel to get caught. Park Wi stated that the social service worker did not act intentionally and apologized politely immediately after the accident. After the video was released, there were criticisms online that it was inappropriate to expose even the simple mistake of the social service worker. Some netizens commented, ″Disability is not power,″ ″Now, who would willingly help disabled people when they ask for assistance? This is how prejudice continues,″ and ″Why is he apologizing to us? The person Park Wi should apologize to is the social service worker.″ As the controversy grew, Park Wi deleted the video and posted an apology saying, ″I did not consider the position of the worker who did their best to help me on site and apologized politely,″ and ″I only thought negatively about the mistake that occurred in the process of helping me better. My way of conveying this was immature and thoughtless.″ Despite Park Wi’s apology, the controversy continues with various opinions from railway engineers, social service workers, wheelchair users, and others. One engineer argued, ″Sometimes the foot is used to hold down the wheelchair lift to prevent it from rising,″ and ″This case also appears to be an accidental incident, not intentional.″ A person who identified themselves as a social service worker at KORAIL said, ″We do our best to assist disabled and elderly passengers,″ and expressed that it is hard to understand why the video was released, causing more controversy after an apology had already been made. Another individual who identified as a wheelchair user said that while the accident itself should not have happened, they questioned the necessity of releasing the video. A mother of a 10-year-old autistic child and a fan of Park Wi also pointed out that the video could cause further wounds and discrimination.