YouTuber Park Wi drew public criticism over the controversy of posting CCTV footage, and now faces allegations of high speaking fees.
Recently, materials related to Park Wi's past lecture and performance contracts have spread on online communities. According to those materials, Geumsan Darakwon invited Park Wi in 2023 for a "guest lecture for youth at Geumsan County public library" and ultimately paid 500,000 won. Also, when Bupyeong District in Incheon invited Park Wi for the Children's Day festival held this year, they paid a contract fee of 4,462,000 won. The contract was recorded as signed with Wiracle Factory Co., Ltd., a corporation represented by Park Wi.
In particular, the talk concert that was recently canceled amid the controversy was revealed to have involved an even larger amount. According to the contract status disclosed April 4 by the Gangnam Cultural Foundation in Seoul, Park Wi contracted with an event planning company for 935,000 won to give a one-hour lecture at the talk concert scheduled for the 28th. However, it is difficult to conclude that the contracted amount was paid directly to Park Wi personally.
Meanwhile, on the 26th a media outlet cited the minutes of the Dongjak District administrative and finance committee meeting and reported that Park Wi asked for "1,000,000 won to more than 1,500,000 won" as a two-hour speaking fee in the process of being booked for Dongjak's "Dongjak life mic," drawing attention.
In this connection, So Jae-won, the novelist who is the original author of the films Beasty Boys, Wish, Tunnel and the drama I Miss You, also posted a critical message on his social account.
So Jae-won wrote that "so Park Wi received as much as 500,000 won for a lecture! I, who wrote four novels that became film adaptations and wrote the drama script and original novel, traveled the country receiving 50,000 won," adding, "At some point, after appearing on broadcasts and taking multiple lectures, my lecture fees rose. I insisted on free lectures or asked that the money be donated, but the organizers said it had to be paid, so thereafter I received the minimum amount that was paid as a basic fee, 50,000 won."
He continued, "When bookstores and publishers host an event, they charge readers an entry fee of about 1,000 won to 10,000 won, and even that feels off. For a writer, readers are faith. When you go to a cathedral, church or temple, do you pay to go? No, right? Me neither. For me, meeting readers is an act of protecting and serving faith," adding, "At least if you are a writer... if you truly value the pen... don't become a merchant to the public who made your humble work shine."
Park Wi was diagnosed with total paralysis after a 2014 fall but improved through effort to the point of being able to move part of his upper body. He launched the YouTube channel Wiracle to raise disability awareness and carried out various charitable activities. In 2024 he made headlines by marrying Song Ji-eun, formerly of Secret, who shares his Christian faith.
But on the 21st Park Wi was criticized for posting CCTV footage in the process of reporting a fall that occurred while disembarking from a KTX train on the Wiracle channel. At the time, Park Wi used a wheelchair ramp for disembarking, and a wheel got caught on the foot of a social service worker who had placed their foot to secure the ramp, causing him to be jolted and fall to the floor. The social service worker reportedly apologized politely to Park Wi immediately after the accident, and hospital examinations found no fractures or other injuries.
Nonetheless, Park Wi preserved the CCTV footage in a YouTube video and expressed his anger. He emphasized the need for safety improvements, saying "a single mistake can lead to a major accident," but separate from that intent, critics said that releasing footage showing the social service worker who tried to help him to an unspecified large audience could be interpreted as intending to shame that person. Ultimately Park Wi deleted the video and apologized, but the backlash continued, with malicious comments targeting his wife Song Ji-eun and his YouTube subscriber count falling to as low as 970,000.
[Photo] Park Wi SNS, online community
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