It has been two years since the death of YouTuber the late Pyo Ye-rim, who drew attention as a real-life "The Glory."
YouTuber Pyo Ye-rim died on Oct. 10, 2023, at age 27.
At the time, Busanjin Police Station and fire authorities said they received a report that someone had fallen into a reservoir located in Busanjin District, Busan. The 119 rescue team that responded searched and found the woman after about three hours, then moved her to a hospital, but she was in cardiac arrest. Identification confirmed that the woman was Pyo Ye-rim.
Pyo Ye-rim drew attention by revealing that she had suffered school violence for 12 years from elementary through high school. Her revelations gained traction when they coincided with the then-publicized Netflix series "The Glory," and the identities of those accused of being the perpetrators were exposed, but Pyo Ye-rim did not receive a proper apology and had to suffer secondary and tertiary harm.
At the time, Pyo Ye-rim said in despair, "They paint me as a gold-digger, as a fraud, and say I can't be a victim of school violence. About the donations, they say I'm scamming like the 'tooth dad' and they pile on. Can I be hated this much? But this is the limit. I'm going to stop here. I told about my pain and many people supported me because of that pain. I don't know, but maybe something changed. At least one bill was proposed. Can't I rest?"
On the day she died, Pyo Ye-rim said on a live broadcast, "I want to stop trying so hard now. I turned this on to answer questions about the stalker. I made a really big decision to do this. There are so many rumors. They call me a gold-digger, call me a perpetrator. They say innocent citizens were harmed because of me. They say my school violence was false. Someone said KTX was cut for me, someone said the accommodation was arranged for me. I paid my own money. I never extorted money. They say they'll sue me for fraud, embezzlement, defamation, etc., so if there's a police officer watching the live broadcast, please check for any cases under my name," she said.
She continued, "I'm sorry. I wish I could carry it all and go, but this case has suffered secondary and tertiary harm. Secondary harm came from the school violence perpetrators, tertiary harm came from the stalker. Am I harmful to someone? It's one thing to be harmful to the perpetrators, but am I harmful even to victims? Seeing that I'm harmful doesn't feel good. Some say donations were given or not, that I extorted or scammed people. I can't even show my bank accounts. It's so unfair. I come here and talk. Even if I try to ignore those comments, I can't. At some point I felt the impact," she said, voicing distress over indiscriminate suspicions and malicious comments.
Meanwhile, YouTuber A, who was sued by Pyo Ye-rim on stalking charges, was cleared of charges. The Seoul Gwanak Police Station said that regarding the YouTuber A, who was accused of violating the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes and other offenses, as well as charges of coercion, defamation, insult, and obscene communication via a media device, "there is insufficient evidence, so no charges."
YouTuber A said, "Despite ongoing harm, we have taken legal action. Nonetheless, we were left with no choice but to take continuous legal measures to prevent and block her actions, which combined baseless claims that she was being stalked with lies and some facts. It appears she felt a sense of crisis in the legal battle and made an extreme choice, but we suffered damages because of criminal allegations and did nothing wrong. Rather, while being victims of crime, we have only taken legal measures regarding Pyo Ye-rim's actions so far," he claimed.
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