YouTube account of former singer convicted of raping minors shut down

Go speaks to the press after being released from prison in Guro-gu, Seoul, on July 10, 2015. (Newsis)

The YouTube account of Go Young-wook, a former member of the popular '90s band Roo'Ra who served 30 months in prison for raping and sexually harassing minors, was shut down Friday, 17 days after its creation.

"It seems my YouTube channel was shut down overnight. I didn't upload any harmful content, yet it seems YouTube applied a rule (to shut down accounts) solely to me just because of my criminal record. I've already served my legal punishment, so why is it that some people are allowed to do this while others aren't? Is this really fair?" wrote Go on his X account on Friday morning.

YouTube does not have any regulations that prohibit individuals with past criminal records from uploading content.

Reached for comment on the deactivation of Go's YouTube channel, YouTube could not provide an official response as of Friday afternoon.

On Aug. 5, Go launched a YouTube channel titled "Go! Youngwook GoDog Days." The channel generally featured videos of his everyday life.

During the 17 days that Go's YouTube account was active, the channel attracted around 5,000 subscribers. The most-watched video, which featured his pet dog resting, had amassed approximately 300,000 views, as of Thursday.

Go's presence on YouTube sparked significant public backlash, with many saying that they did want want to see content created by Go.

On Tuesday, a post titled "Request for strong parliamentary sanctions against the actions of a YouTuber convicted of a sex crime" was uploaded on the National Assembly's public petition website.

"On platforms of legacy media, (content created by) someone with a criminal record of this nature would have been naturally filtered out. However, in the world of YouTube, where individuals can exercise greater influence than on traditional media, criminals can operate without any restrictions, and their content is accessible to everyone," read the petition. The petition urged the National Assembly to establish basic qualification standards for YouTubers.

The post, which garnered 100 approvals within two days, is now awaiting its transition to a public petition. A post is elevated to a public petition status if it receives 100 approvals, according to the National Assembly's public petition platform rules.

In 2013, Go was sentenced to 30 months in prison for sexually assaulting and raping three teenage girls multiple times between July and December 2012.

He was released from prison in 2015 and became the first Korean celebrity to be required to wear an electronic ankle monitor for three years as part of his sentence.

By Lee Yoon-seo(yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)