A South Korean YouTuber referred to prosecutors on charges of spreading false information — claiming dozens of mutilated bodies had been found in South Korea — has walked back a declaration that he would seek Japanese citizenship after facing a wave of public backlash.
Cho, 22, who runs the YouTube channel "Korean Teacher Daebojjang" with roughly 950,000 subscribers, said in a video released Saturday that he was "sincerely sorry to everyone who felt uncomfortable or was disappointed" by his earlier naturalization announcement. "I have decided to continue living in Japan as a Korean, rather than becoming a Japanese citizen through naturalization," he said.
He also apologized for treating the subject flippantly. "I am truly sorry for joking about a topic that could be especially sensitive to Japanese people," he said, adding that he felt "genuinely ashamed" after reading comments and rewatching his own video.
Cho also acknowledged being labeled a "pro-Japan YouTuber" in South Korea, saying he took responsibility for that perception. "I did not mean that South Korea is a difficult country to live in," he said. "I had been considering naturalization because, for personal reasons, life in South Korea felt hard for me."
He pledged to continue his activities in Japan as a South Korean national and promised to "communicate with greater care, humility and maturity" going forward.
In the video that sparked the controversy, Cho said he had wanted to become Japanese for seven years. He said at the time that he had long put off the decision because it would remove his name from his family registry, and that he had finally felt "the time had come."
He appeared to have his ongoing legal troubles in mind, however, noting that "if I am indicted and convicted in the current criminal case, I may not be able to obtain naturalization approval." Under Japanese nationality law, a criminal record can negatively affect a naturalization application.
The backlash came from Japanese internet users as well, with comments questioning whether he could obtain a visa or legal residency status, calling him "a criminal in his home country," and warning that "naturalization should not become a means of escape." Faced with the criticism, Cho ultimately reversed course and said he would "live as a Korean."
Meanwhile, Cho uploaded a video to his channel last October titled "The problem of murder and organ trafficking by undocumented Chinese criminals entering South Korea is serious," in which he claimed that 37 lower-body-only corpses had been found in South Korea, that 150 cases were under secret investigation, and that 80,000 people were missing in the country — all unverified false claims.
Police determined that the spread of the false information constituted "a serious act harmful to the national interest" and launched an investigation into Cho in November of that year. In March, police referred him to prosecutors without detention on charges of violating the Framework Act on Telecommunications, and filed a pre-indictment asset preservation request for approximately 3.5 million won ($2,440) in advertising revenue he had earned from the video.
betterj@heraldcorp.com
