"Please leave lots of comments" ... Park Wi limits comments after deleting video

[Financial News] Park Wi, a YouTuber who stressed communication by asking viewers to leave comments in his first video, has restricted the comment section about seven years later. The move came after criticism grew over his release of a video showing a KTX-Sancheon fall accident.
In his first video, uploaded to the YouTube channel 'Weracle' in February 2019, Park Wi directly explained why he began using a wheelchair, why he started YouTube, and what kind of content he hoped to create.
In the video, Park Wi described the moment he woke up in the hospital after the 2015 accident. At first, he thought the numbness in his body and his inability to move his arms properly meant the anesthesia had not worn off. He later learned that his neck had been broken and that he had been diagnosed with quadriplegia.
He said the accident also changed the way he saw the world. Before being injured, he had not paid close attention to people in wheelchairs, and even when he heard stories about patients confined to hospital beds, he said he only felt sympathy.
But during his hospital stay, he said he came to see people in even more difficult situations than his own. Park Wi said, "Although I am in this situation now, I want to get back up and become a source of hope for injured people and others who are struggling. I want to help them."
He also outlined the content he wanted to share through YouTube. He said he wanted to make videos that give hope to people in hardship, help change perceptions of disability, and share rehabilitation and daily-life information with others who had experienced accidents like his. He added that he would show his own life in a wheelchair, including travel, driving, exercise, and various challenges.
At the end of the video, he emphasized communication with viewers.
Park Wi asked viewers to reach out first. He said, "I really want to communicate. Please leave me lots of comments and come to my Instagram to talk to me."
The people he asked to contact him were not limited to those who had been injured. Park Wi also told people struggling mentally, "I will think it through with you as far as I can and do my best to help, even if I am lacking." He also explained that he named the channel 'Weracle' by combining his name, 'Wi,' with the idea of hoping everyone could create a miracle together.
The channel that began with a request for comments later surpassed 1 million subscribers. But about seven years later, Park Wi came under intense criticism over the release of CCTV footage showing a fall accident on a KTX-Sancheon train.
On the 21st, Park Wi released CCTV footage showing his wheelchair tipping over while descending a portable ramp as he was getting off a KTX-Sancheon train, after it caught on the foot of a Social Service Agent. He said the video was intended to improve mobility conditions for people with disabilities and prevent similar accidents. However, critics questioned whether it was appropriate to publicize a mistake made by a worker who had already apologized at the scene on such a large channel.
As the criticism spread, Park Wi deleted the video and apologized. He said, "I failed to consider the position of the worker who did their best to help me at the scene and politely apologized," adding, "My way of presenting it was inadequate, and I was short-sighted."
The backlash continued even after his apology. His subscriber count fell, and a series of scheduled lectures and talk concerts were canceled. The criticism also spread to his wife Song Ji-eun's social media accounts.
In the end, Song Ji-eun restricted comments on social media, and Park Wi also closed the comment sections on YouTube and social media.
[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter