Travel YouTuber Wonji is facing controversy after showing an office where employees work in a video. The footage showed three employees hired to run the YouTube channel working in a 6-pyeong basement space with no windows, raising criticism that the conditions were too poor.
On the 20th, Wonji posted a long statement on the YouTube channel "A day of Wonji." In the statement, Wonji said, "I sincerely apologize for causing discomfort to viewers regarding the office environment in the video 'Looking for a 6-pyeong office' that was uploaded today."
Before the official apology, Wonji deleted the video at issue. Explaining the reason for the deletion, Wonji said, "It seems that the ventilation system and structure of the entire building were not sufficiently conveyed through the video alone, which may have led to the environment being perceived somewhat differently from reality," and added, "Because of this, I thought misunderstandings or inconveniences could arise for others using the same building, so I inevitably decided to make the video private."
Wonji said, "I was told that the building with the office space shown in the video is a commercial building with various types of businesses and is designed so that air circulates through the building-wide ventilation system," and added, "Therefore, I judged that even without separate windows, it would not cause a major problem."
Lastly, Wonji said, "Since this is the first office, there seem to be many immature and insufficient aspects," and added, "I will actively accept the opinions you left, make up for the shortcomings, and work hard to be sure to show that we are developing in a better direction going forward."
Even after the apology, some pointed out issues such as three employees working on parcel-shipping tasks in a 6-pyeong space on basement level two, and that it appeared different from the channel's usual selling point of boldly spending for oneself. Some users commented, "Always going on about ventilation, but not keeping the standards set for oneself for the employees working for my company, isn't that what creates a disconnect?" "Try working 40 hours a week in that prison-like space," "If you're packing parcels, it seems like dust would fly," "It's the first time I've seen a 1 million-subscriber YouTuber get an office in a basement," "They must have posted it because they didn't think this was a problem," "How can anyone work in a place with no windows like that," "How much were they chasing cost-effectiveness—this is someone's workplace," "So only you are important, huh," and more.
As the controversy continued, Wonji left another post. Regarding the dispute over the floor area, Wonji said, "It would have been best to go to a larger place from the start, but this was something I did not think through deeply enough, so I will make sure to improve this part."
Meanwhile, born in 1988, Wonji runs "A day of Wonji," which has 1.02 million subscribers as of the 21st. Wonji also appeared in seasons 1–3 of ENA's "World Dice Tour" together with travel YouTubers Ppani Bottle and Kwak Tube.