Former K-pop singer Ko Young-wook responds to backlash over starting YouTube channel

Former K-pop singer Ko Young-wook, who was convicted for the sexual assault and harrassment of underage girls, responded to immediate public backlash over starting his own YouTube channel and uploading a video on Aug. 5.

Former K-pop star Ko Young-wook, left, and a screen capture of his YouTube channel [NEWS1, SCREEN CAPTURE]

Former K-pop singer Ko Young-wook, who was convicted for the sexual assault and harrassment of underage girls, responded to immediate public backlash over starting his own YouTube channel and uploading a video on Aug. 5.

Ko said that the criticisms are something he has to “endure.”

In an interview with local media outlet Star News the day after uploading the video, Ko said that the intent to create the account was not “a grandiose plan [of a comeback].”

Ko’s first YouTube video is nearly four minutes long and features his pet dog and a photograph of him. The video has accumulated 210,000 views as of Wednesday. The comment section is disabled.

"I lived a shameful life,” Ko wrote on X on Monday. “I felt like I was aging miserably, just sitting at home muttering. So, I am starting a YouTube channel without any particular plan just to escape from my dull monochrome life.”

He continued to say he’s confused as to whether it’s better for him to just “stay quiet and not do anything” since he is a person with a criminal record. He also added that he feels “sorry for his mother.”

However, Ko edited the post on the same day to simply say that he started a YouTube channel.

Ko attempted to open an Instagram account in 2020 and was banned shortly after. He created a Twitter account in the same year but has been inactive since the Instagram ban.

Ko was found guilty for sexually assaulting and harassing three underage girls on five occasions between 2010 and 2012 in an officetel in Seoul and in his car. The Supreme Court in 2013 ordered him to serve two years and six months in prison and to wear an ankle monitor for three years after he was released.

He was released from prison in 2015 and wore the ankle monitor until 2018.

Ko made his debut as part of the music group Roo’ra in 1994.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]