“I’d like my first child to be a boy, and have him carry me around a little”... Park Wi’s past remarks about having children spark controversy again

[Financial News] YouTuber Park Wi is once again drawing attention for remarks he made while discussing plans for children with his wife, Song Ji-eun. Online, opinions are divided between criticism and support over how the couple decided to have a child and the role they expect their child to play.
A conversation between Park Wi and Song Ji-eun on singer Sean’s YouTube channel With Sean last April is being shared online again. In a video released at the time titled “Why Park Wi and Song Ji-eun Decided to Have a Child After Much Deliberation,” the couple explained how they had weighed the decision to pursue pregnancy and childbirth.
In the video, when Sean asked the couple, “Are you planning to have children?”, Park immediately replied, “I’ve thought about it a lot.”
Song Ji-eun, on the other hand, said she needed to prepare herself emotionally for childbirth. She said, “I’ve always thought about having children because I’ve loved them so much since before we got married. But I don’t think I was emotionally ready.”
Song Ji-eun said she had thought about the responsibilities they would have as parents after having a child, as well as the physical care needed during child-rearing. She said, “Once a life is born, there’s no pause button. I wondered whether we could be parents with arms wide enough to take that on,” adding, “There’s the physical side, too. I wondered whether we’d be able to take good care of a child as well.”
After much deliberation, the couple decided to start preparing to have a child. Song Ji-eun said, “After hesitating a little, I decided to undergo IVF this year.” Park Wi also said he had wanted two children, saying, “I’ve always thought I wanted to have two children.”
Park Wi said he still had concerns about raising children. He may have difficulty caring for a child himself because of his physical limitations, but encouragement from those around him gave him confidence.
He said, “Honestly, I’m still afraid. There are things I can’t do physically when it comes to caring for a child, so I feel sorry toward my wife, and I think I might feel inadequate. But someone said, ‘Do you raise a child with physical strength? You raise them with love,’ and that gave me confidence.”
Remarks Park Wi made on the YouTube channel Weracle in 2024 are also being shared online again. At the time, he said, “I’d like my firstborn to be a boy. I want my son to carry me around a little, and I’d like to protect my daughter.”
Some netizens criticized the remark, asking whether it reflected an expectation that his children should take care of their parents.
Opinions were divided online over Park Wi’s plans for children and his past remarks. Some criticized as inappropriate his expression of the expectation that his children would take care of their father. Others said he should not be excessively criticized based solely on his public remarks, since pregnancy and childbirth are matters for the couple to decide together.
Park Wi previously said he had been involved in an accident when his wheelchair tipped over as he was getting off a KTX train, and posted CCTV footage of the incident on his YouTube channel. However, he was criticized for overreacting by posting on a channel with one million subscribers footage that also showed the social service worker, who had apologized several times in connection with the accident.
As criticism continued, Park Wi deleted the video and apologized. Several scheduled speaking engagements were then canceled one after another, and he also stepped down as a Seoul City goodwill ambassador, a position to which he and his wife, Song Ji-eun, had been appointed together.
As videos of his past television appearances and remarks were shared again, his YouTube subscriber count also fell. The count, which had exceeded one million before the controversy, has reportedly dropped to the 930,000s.
[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter