Yang Chi-seung (51), a fitness trainer and TV personality who has been speaking out as a victim of a gym lease deposit scam, claimed that a bailiff sexually harassed him during the gym's demolition.
On the 27th, Yang uploaded closed-circuit (CC)TV footage to his YouTube channel and explained what happened. He said, "I had a feeling a forcible execution was about to happen, so I even sold my car and prepared in advance. Then, not many days later, they came in to carry out the forcible execution," adding, "They told me to vacate the gym in a week, so I said, 'If you suddenly tell me to vacate in a week, how am I supposed to do that? If you're going to demolish, I need time.'"
He continued, "I debated whether to talk about this, but on the day they came for the forcible execution, three bailiffs showed up. One of them said to me, 'Oh, great physical shape, huh? I really want to grab your chest,'" and he released the CCTV footage showing one bailiff touching Yang Chi-seung's chest area.
He went on, "When the forcible execution began, I was overwhelmed and held back, but after a few days, I felt really upset. Does it make any sense for a bailiff to say they want to touch my chest once?" adding, "The other side was putting me through an extremely nerve-racking situation, and I was really holding myself back. Don't make mistakes like that anywhere else. You really must not do that."
He also said that after closing the business, while selling exercise equipment, he suffered theft when some buyers walked off with items they hadn't paid for. He reported it to the police and got the items back but did not receive an apology, saying, "The very fact that they inflict harm like that on people who are struggling makes me think their brains are really weird. There are truly many strange people."
In 2019, Yang opened a gym in a building in Gangnam District, Seoul, but it was later revealed that the building was a public facility built under contributed acceptance conditions, and in 2022 he received an eviction order from the Gangnam District Office.
At the time, he said on YouTube, "It turned out the land was owned by the Gangnam District Office," adding, "A so-called company (that entered into the lease) built a building on this land 20 years ago. They had been granted the right to use it free of charge for 20 years and were supposed to return it. They did not tell me that when we signed the contract."
Yang filed a criminal complaint against the other party, but the Gangnam Police Station handling the case concluded there was no intent to defraud from the beginning and that the other party tried to renew the contract, and issued a decision of no charges.
As Yang's case became known, the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee decided to call him as a reference witness at the National Assembly audit in Oct. to hear "cases of lease fraud damages occurring in social infrastructure and requests for measures."