[Sportschosun Reporter Minjeong Cho] YouTuber Park We is facing continued fallout over the controversy surrounding the release of CCTV footage of his fall in a KTX station, and the National Solidarity for the Elimination of Discrimination against the Disabled (SADD) has sent him an unexpected message. Although the organization has viewed disability differently from Park We, it has publicly reached out to him, saying, "Now, let’s fight together" in light of the incident. The move has drawn considerable attention.
On the 3rd, SADD shared a post by Kim Sang-hee, head of the Nodle Center for Independent Living for Persons with Disabilities, through its official social media accounts. Kim wrote, "Rather than offering words of comfort, I want to reach out my hand," and proposed to Park We, "Let’s fight together now."
Kim also said that he had not viewed Park We’s content positively in the past. He believed that presenting disability primarily as an individual story of overcoming adversity, rather than as a problem rooted in social structures, and emphasizing the goodwill and assistance of nondisabled people failed to fully reflect the realities faced by people with disabilities. He also expressed regret that Park We’s marriage to singer Song Ji-eun had been consumed as a moving story rather than discussed in terms of the rights of people with disabilities.
However, Kim said his perspective had changed בעקבות the recent controversy. He argued that Park We must have personally experienced how people with disabilities can become targets of hatred and attacks simply because of their disability. He continued, "People with disabilities are welcomed when they move others, but the moment they demand their rights, they become an uncomfortable presence," criticizing society’s double standard toward people with disabilities. Kim added that the controversy over privacy and personal-information violations surrounding the release of the CCTV footage was a legitimate matter for criticism. However, he drew a clear distinction between that issue and the hatred directed at Park We because he is disabled, as well as the malicious comments aimed at his spouse, Song Ji-eun.
Kim said that he had once viewed Park We as "a person living like a nondisabled person in a wheelchair." But he assessed that, through this incident, Park We had also come face-to-face with the discrimination and hatred experienced by people with disabilities in a society centered on the nondisabled. Kim also urged him to read the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and take an interest in the issue of mobility rights for people with disabilities. "I hope this experience will lead you to join us in working to change society," he said.
Earlier, Park We released CCTV footage showing him falling forward after his foot caught on a social service worker’s foot while he was getting off a KTX train using a wheelchair lift. After the worker’s face and appearance were exposed without concealment, controversy arose over privacy violations and the excessive disclosure of personal information. Park We eventually deleted the footage and apologized.
The controversy continued even after the video was deleted. Park We faced criticism, while his wife, Song Ji-eun, also became the target of malicious comments. Amid the continuing fallout, SADD—which had previously expressed views different from Park We’s—has instead attracted attention by proposing solidarity and saying, "Let’s fight together."
Minjeong Cho, Reporter mj.cho@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
