Viral Video Exposed the DARKEST organization in South Korea- true story behind “Taxi Driver”
Bada bing, bada boom. There was a South Korean tech startup. that went viral recently. Well, okay, not recently, a couple years ago, but in. order to understand it, we need to get. into the tech startup world. I imagine. it's very similar to the ones here in. the US. The CEO likes to be perceived as. chill, as one of the relatable workers, as one of the the 9-to-5ers. At this. tech company, WeDisc, it's very similar. The CEO, Yang Jin-Ho, would ride around. the office in his electric scooter,
probably wearing his little Patagonia. vest. He would ride around all the. little cubicles to make sure everyone's. having a good time at work. Then he would ride into a little. conference room. Okay, so the meeting. rooms, the conference rooms in this. office, very pertinent to the story. They're encased in glass. So, think of. your very modern office building. You've. got all these employees on these rows. and rows of desks just sitting right. next to each other. It's an open format. It's an open floor plan. And then in the.
middle of the office building, you have. these glass conference rooms. So, technically, everyone can see everyone. There is no privacy. You don't even have. a cubicle with tall little borders, nothing, just completely open. It's that. cool, modern, open workspace vibe. Other. than that, other than the floor plan of. this company, WeDisc was not like the. other startups. WeDisc was a whole different animal. The CEO and founder made tens of.
millions of dollars a year, and right. now, all of the employees could see him. through the glass conference room with. four of the high-up executives. So, think about like the top five people. in your company in a glass meeting room, and they are actively jumping an. innocent man. Beating up. Like assault, physical assault. Physical assault. Okay. Chairman Yang believed that this man, a. professor at a local university, was. sleeping with his wife. So, he summoned this professor, who has.
no affiliation with his company, into. his office, took four of his VPs, and is. now jumping the guy, is beating him up. The professor's trying to clear the air, like, "It's all a big misunderstanding. I would never sleep with your wife. I. don't know what you're talking about. Please, you have to just hear me out.". They beat him in that glass conference. room in front of all, tens, if not. hundreds, of employees for 3 hours. straight. They held his arms down. They beat his.
face. They tied his hands behind his. back and then stomped on his fingers, crushing them. god. They would mock him. Hey, if you hit your head really, really hard. on this desk, you might just die. And if you die, we don't have to torture. you anymore, so. what do you say? You want to do it? They went through his phone. They took. pictures of his credit card, his ID, the. contacts on his phone list. They. gathered all the numbers and addresses.
of all of his loved ones. They. threatened to hurt them. The executives. laughed. They mocked at his injuries, and they grabbed the back of his head. with his hair, shoved his face to the. ground. Lick his shoe. Lick it. He was forced to lick the CEO's shoes. But even that wasn't enough. They all. took turns spitting on his face and. forced him to lick up all the saliva. that they had just spat. Oh my goodness. This is a respected university. professor. There are dozens, if not a.
hundred, employees outside watching this. happen, letting it happen. Nobody is. coming in to stop the executives. Nobody. is coming in to call the cops. For 3. hours, the professor. actively feared for his life. And in the end, the CEO, Mr. Yang, the. CEO of a multi-million dollar tech. startup, laughed at him and threw $2,000. on the ground. "This should be enough for hospital. fees. Hey, by the way, you can call the cops if you want,
but I'm worth $200 million. And money talks. So, who do you think. they're going to listen to?". And with that, he and the executives. walked out of the meeting room. The. professor knew that this was the truth. I mean, the police are not going to. listen to him. I think in any country, money talks, and you are talking about a. very powerful, influential, wealthy man. with probably prosecutors, police, politicians in his pocket. The professor stood up, and he looks out. the conference room, and he just sees. the most bizarre scene I think you can.
ever imagine. Rows and rows of employees. that saw him, too, that saw him get beat. up, and they all have almost. Skittle-colored hair. Each one of them is like a giant Skittle. on their head. So, they have brightly. red-colored hair, like the full head of. hair is red, not streaks, not accent. hair, not highlights. Then the one next. to them has blue hair, and it's like. fluorescent blue. The next one is sky. blue. Then you've got like this neon. green-colored hair, and then pink.
Now, in South Korea, this is kind of. wild, that level of dyed hair. Each one had like a new neon dyed hair. color, and it was just very strange to. see them sit in a row with all their. backs erect, just so straight, like the. good little employees that they are, and. they're all staring at their computer. screens. And he walks by, and he looks at all the computer. screens, and each single one of them. is playing nonstop X-rated videos.
All the employees are sitting in rows. watching explicit films. What? What the hell is going on at WeDisc? Who. is CEO Yang? How does he even run a tech. startup like this? What even is their. business model? How does he end up in. jail? Let's get into it.
As always, full show notes are available. at rottenmango podcast.com. We are talking about a case that was. massive in Korea a few years ago, and. with a new K-drama that has come out, this case has. I guess had a comeback. Haha. I don't. know if I can say it like that, but. remember the K-drama case that we talked. about, The Glory, where there is this. revenge drama, and they were inspired by.
true, real-life stories of school. bullying. What's fascinating is a lot of. people don't know that the hit K-drama, Taxi Driver, was inspired by a ton of. true stories. So, if you guys haven't. seen Taxi Driver, the premise is you. call this taxi company, and when you. look at like their business logs, they. look like a regular 택시 company, but it's. actually vigilante justice pursuers. So, you call them if you've got a case where. the police cannot help you, the. government cannot help you, you call. them, and they will take care of it.
Whether it's a school bully, or in this. situation, the most insane boss of all. time, they will take care of it. If you watch these scenes about this. real-life case in the Taxi Driver, they're pretty similar to what happened. in the real world, but it looks so. bizarre and outlandish that you would. never believe that it's true. I mean, I don't see a lot of people in. the US talking about it because I. genuinely don't think that anyone would. even think, "Oh, I bet that's inspired. off of a true story." It's that crazy.
Like, if I told you that at a massive. company retreat, employees were all handed a giant sword, and the boss said, "Okay, here's what. I'm going to do. I'm going to throw a. live chicken at you, and I want you to. slice it midair to kill it so we can. cook it. Play Fruit Ninja with the chicken that's. alive. Do it.". Would you not be like, "This is. literally so bizarre that it's got to be. fake. If I read this in a book, I'd be. like, I hate how unrealistic this is.".
Would you not think that? Yeah. It's. insane, and this man is literally. insane. He was able to get his hands on. insane amounts of money and power, resulting in. I don't even know how to describe this. case, but as always, with international. cases, we did get someone that is a. native Korean speaker to help with the. research. We had our Korean researcher. work on this, and let us know in the. comments what you think about this case. Have you heard of it? Are there any. other cases you want us to cover? And uh with that being said, a shocking video went viral in South.
Korea 2018. From context, we can gather. an ex-employee of a massive company had. gone online to anonymously trash talk. the company, the company CEO, as well as. a couple other high-up executives. I mean, it seems normal. Somehow, the. company CEO is able to track down which. employee it was, forces them to come. into the office and apologize. They keep. DMing them, like, "You better come in. I'm so upset with you. I knew that you. wrote this post. So, you better come in.
and apologize." The video will most. likely be taken down if I post it on. here. Uh if you want to see the. uncensored version, you can go to. rottenmango video on Spotify to see it. I'm going to describe it, though, okay? You will see the ex-employee, a man, walk into the office filled with. workers. There's just rows of office. workers sitting at their desk, staring. at their computers. Again, no cubicles, it's open air. You can see everything. going on. The ex-employee comes in wearing all. black. The CEO of the company demands the.
saying ex-employee, like he was working. here. He doesn't even work there. anymore. So, he quit his job and then. anonymously posted, anonymously posted. on the internet, on like a forum, and. was like, "Hey, this company sucks." And. he did make fun of the CEO. We're going. to get into all of it later, but he was. forced to come in even though he's not. an employee anymore. Okay. The CEO of. this multi-million dollar company. demands the employee apologize for his. online post.
He forces the ex-employee to get on his. knees and beg for forgiveness. He. continues to slap him across the face. over and over and when he's on his. knees, he slaps him on the back of the. head cuz he's got his head bowed down. And these are not little slaps. These. are loud, echoing off the walls, aggressive, painful, scar-leaving slaps. He continues to slap this ex-employee.
while asking him, "What kind of human. are you? How trash must you be to talk your. former bosses on social media? You don't. have respect?" He berates the. ex-employee for not apologizing. correctly. He is forced to get on his. knees twice in front of all of his. former colleagues, all of his former. managers, and in front of the CEO to beg. for forgiveness. But, the CEO doesn't. stop. He continues to curse at him. calling him all sorts of degrading. names. "Piece of [ __ ] [ __ ] asshole.".
At one point, the CEO of the company. even threatens to end the ex-employee's. life if he doesn't apologize correctly. Yeah. He literally says, "If you want to live, learn to apologize better.". After all of that abuse, which the. ex-employee never fights back, never. incites any further violence, it's. actually really heartbreaking to watch. him. He looks terrified just. the way that he's on his knees with his. head tucked trying to stay safe. It's. it's pretty sad. The CEO gets in his.
face and said, "Are you [ __ ] crying? Are you seriously [ __ ] crying, you. little shit?". This video proceeds to go viral on. social media and mainstream news. because, I mean, just how shocking the. situation is. I think the video is. visceral. It elicits a reaction from. people. It's very hard to watch it and. just go, "Oh, that's crazy." Like, you. get angry. A few things stood out that. really felt unsettling for netizens. One. was the sheer violence enacted on an. ex-employee who genuinely does not fight.
back. The CEO is fighting someone that's. not fighting him back. Two, the rest of the employees in this. office can clearly see what's going on. and not a single person steps in to stop. the CEO, to put their foot down and say, "Hey, maybe we shouldn't try doing. this.". Third, this is not a random small. company that has three or four. employees. This is not a random. mom-and-pop business with a tyrant. that's running it. Not to say that. that's acceptable, but it's just more. shocking when massive corporations get.
away with such abuse for so long. I. mean, how many people were impacted? How. many people didn't report the abuse? The CEO of this company is probably. worth around $200 million. How is he getting away with this? And lastly, whoever recorded this was. not the victim. The victim was not the one who released. this video to the public. So, who was even allowed to record it? It's very interesting. So, the CEO is. clearly not a reasonable man. I imagine.
if you were recording him committing a. crime to use it as blackmail against him. later, he would probably slap you, too. He would probably break your phone. But, someone is getting a very good, clear. angle of this. There is no way he didn't. see that person recording. And this video was taken 3 years ago. It. went viral in 2018, but it was actually. taken in 2015. So, now the netizens, they got a lot of. questions. They start digging into who. the CEO is and what company he runs.
Let's talk about WeDisk. WeDisk would um be a company that has. some of the most outrageous behavior. I've ever heard of. The head of the. company, the CEO with the red palm in. the video, was Yang Jin-Ho. He was born. August 12th, 1972, making him like 51, 52. And I couldn't. find much verifiable information about. his upbringing or his parents or even. his schooling. All we have is like this. stereotypical CEO story, the.
rags-to-riches story. The story goes. like this. Average guy, probably rich. parents, but he does not say that. Average guy was just out there hustling, selling green juice machines. "Green. juice is healthy for you, sir. Buy this. machine and you can make fresh green. juice every single morning. Save. yourself $100 over time." And then in. 2003, he had a dream for something more. He took a risk. He quit his job, sold. everything, and became the massive. founder of a massive multi-million. dollar business called WeDisk, and that.
would result in trauma and death. Have you ever been on a corporate. retreat? So, you and your colleagues. will take a weekend off your fun life to. be surrounded by each other once again. It's like you don't see each other for. 40 hours a week, but this time, instead. of being at the office stuck in your. cubicle, you are stuck in the woods in a. cabin with your amazing co-workers. So, now instead of listening to them chew. with their mouth open for lunch, you can. hear it for breakfast, lunch, and.
dinner. Look, in most instances, it's an effort. from the higher-ups to get everyone on. the same page, aligned with the company. goals, re-passionate, reinvigorated. about the company mission. Maybe if you. work at Google, it's a blast because of. how much money they shovel into stuff. like this. Or if you work for a small. business, maybe it genuinely can be fun. But, for the workers at WeDisk, it was. the most miserable times of their lives. The CEO would go around passing out. weapons in the middle of the woods to.
his terrified employees. It feels like some Squid Games, Hunger. Games is about to start. You want the bow? Or you want the. katana, the big knife? Which one? Hurry, pick. Sir, what's Just take the goddamn bow. He would pass out bow and arrows, katanas, like the Japanese swords. They did not understand, how is this to. refocus ourselves with the company. mission, right? This doesn't make sense. So, this year, we're going to be killing. our targets. Just like.
you're killing these chickens. me? Oh my god. Excuse me? A dozen or so tiny little chickens are. brought out of their coop. Here's the. plan. You with the knife, you stand here. and hey, you, what's your name? Scott, come here. Scott, you're going to catch. a chicken, throw it in the air, and you. with the knife, you're going to slice it. midair. I want you to decapitate it. while it's in the air. Do you understand. me? Or else you're fired. And Kim, your name Kim, right? Kim with. the bow and arrow. What you're going to.
do is you're going to run over there. There's three chickens. They're running. around. They're scared. You're going to. shoot them with the bow and arrow. And if you guys don't kill these. chickens, then we don't have dinner. And. if we don't have dinner, then you're all. fired. Not only were you being abused, but you. were forced to abuse live chickens and I. mean, at the risk of your livelihood. If. you don't do this, you're going to lose. your job. And in South Korea, some. context to add, I think it's a bit. different in the US where you lose your. job, it's rough. It's life-changing, but.
you can find a new job. South Korea, if. you get fired from a job, it is. incredibly hard, so difficult to find a. new job. Like, people do not care about suing. your former employer for badmouthing you. to potential new employers. No, that. like doesn't exist in South Korea. So, the employees, they're tearfully. slaughtering chickens in the most. inhumane, cruel, and foul ways possible. There is a video of this. Again, I think.
that it would be very hard to post on. here, but I also think if you just saw. this in a drama, you would never believe. this is real. I am going to post the uncensored. version on Spotify, but you've been. warned. It's a lot of animal abuse. It's. very sad. Other employees were instructed to shoot. at the frantic chickens. And if you. couldn't do any of those, if you were. really sad about it, he wanted you to. get up close and personal. So, he would. hand you a tiny little knife and say, "Stab the chicken to death.". And you would have to hold the chicken.
in your hands while you did this. This. was his idea of team bonding. And when. they were all done, he would have them. all gather around, standing around him. in a circle with a big bag of garlic in. one hand. And he would just reach in and. grab a fistful of raw garlic, walk up to. an employee, "Open your mouth.". and shove the garlic into their the raw, eye-watering garlic into their mouths. "Chew. Garlic's good for you.
Who's next?". Bro, this is like just like those glory. bully torture, but like workplace. adults. Like your boss. Yeah, your boss, exactly. It It It's like you can't escape. No. Or you get fired and your whole life is. over. And it wasn't just the company. trips. Okay, it's not like, "Oh, once a. year we go to this company trip that's. like hazing hell." It's actually all of. these after-work hoesiks. Okay, these. are like the bane of the employees'.
existence. Korean culture is very big on hoesik and. it's like Yang's favorite part of being. a CEO. Basically, you get called out to. dinner or for drinks after work with. your boss, your manager, all of your. colleagues, and it's a miserable. existence. It's not like the US where. you get to just eat a bunch of good food. on the company card. You're there to. entertain your boss. You're there to. pour soju in your boss's little glass. and hope that he doesn't try to touch. your butt afterwards.
You have to spend your free time, your. off-work hours with these people getting. drunk and eating food that you don't. even want to eat and laughing at their. not funny at all jokes. So, what? The. managers can get a bit of an ego boost. There's not even work talk. It's not. even about team bonding. Yang would get a private room in these. restaurants. He would sit down all of. his new employees and a few of his old. ones and he would have ordered a bunch. of beers around already and they're all. over the table. Each cup was filled to the brim. To give. you like an exact measurement cuz I.
don't know why they all measured it. Two. cups a glass. So like 16 fluid ounces a glass. That's. a lot. Okay? And oh, sorry I don't If. you're trying to tell CEO Yang that you. don't drink, even just the angry look on. his face would make you stop talking. You felt like you just have to do what. he says. So he would order every single employee. to chug the beer and when you're done, you get an immediate refill. And when. you're done, you get an immediate refill.
until you're throwing up because that's. the point. He wants you to throw up. He's already actually prepared a vomit. bucket so you don't throw up on the. chairs. Another employee will slide a vomit. bucket to you and you throw up, heave. out the contents of your lunch and when. you sit back down with tears in your. eyes and like this nasty smell in your. throat, he slides over another glass of beer. And you know what he wants. He wants you to do it again.
Sometimes the game was different. Sometimes it wasn't about throwing up. He would take everyone out to eat. Oh, eat more of this. It's so salty but it's. good. Salty, right? Here, drink this. Chug the water. Chug the beer. Chug the. soju. And at the end of the dinner, he would. sit back and smile. For the rest of the night, nobody is. allowed to use the restroom unless you. pay me a hundred dollars. Actually, let's do a hundred fifty. That was when he was in a good mood. Sometimes he just straight up forbid. anyone from using the restroom or else.
they would get fired which would result. in employees wetting themselves in. public in front of all of their. colleagues, in front of their bosses, in. front of the general civilian. population. The humiliation, the mental and often. times physical torture that these. employees had to go through is insane. Imagine working for an evil, creative, bored, sadistic man. You never know what. you're going to get. Sometimes he would walk into the office. in a foul mood and just scream at.
everyone. Other times if he was feeling. extra creative, he would. he would ride around in his electric. scooter and shoot at people with his BB. gun. This feels like a show, a parody of like. a tech CEO. Yeah, if you right, if you look at an. SNL skit riding around in electric. scooter, like just what is going on? One employee alleged that he loved for. cancer. So, you know how a lot of these. big companies will provide benefits and. sometimes they'll do like extra health. screenings on top of that. So he said,
okay, I'm going to do a cancer health. screening and Yang would allegedly walk. into the office with bottles upon. bottles of vitamins, just supplements. that you get over the counter. Vitamin. D, vitamin A and the employees were told. stop doing your work, line up in the. break room. They would run and stand in. line and each one was handed a little. plastic cup which is all these different. vitamins in there. This one is said to have been the most. awful torture. The employees said that they were forced. to take more than 10 times the normal.
dosage of a bunch of different vitamins. including vitamin A, D, E and K. To. explain how dangerous and reckless that. is, you can actually get intoxicated off. of vitamins. Vitamin A intoxication. leads to a risk of seizures, headaches, blurred vision, it elevates intracranial. pressure, chronic toxicity can lead to. anorexia, muscle and bone pain. Vitamin. D intoxication can lead to confusion, recurrent vomiting, abdominal pain,
dehydration. Vitamin E, bleeding, muscle. weakness, fatigue, nausea, diarrhea. Vitamin K, anemia, enlarged liver, shortness of breath, irregular breathing. and they are taking 10 times more. It was really bad. People said it was. almost immediate you would double over. in pain and then you would have. explosive diarrhea from the combination. of vitamins. Now, there was not one. toilet per every employee in the office.
clearly cuz no one expects that the. whole group is going to get explosive. diarrhea so it was a mess. They would. run to the bathroom and when they came. out they're sweaty, they're exhausted, they're holding their stomachs in pain. and Yang would say, you're welcome. Excuse me? Did you know that when cancer patients. are given too many vitamins, like when. they overdose on vitamins, they still. don't use the restroom? This is the cheapest way to test if you. guys have cancer. And since you use the. restroom, you don't have cancer. Anyway, this is your work sponsored.
health checkup. You're welcome. Other employees alleged that he would. force them to do illegal drugs like. smoking weed. Now, smoking weed is super. illegal in South Korea. I mean, the. equivalent in America would not even be. like doing meth. It would probably be. like you getting caught trying to shove. meth up a police officer's butt crack. Like that is the level of seriousness. and punishment that you will be dealt. with if you ever smoke weed in Korea.
Yang would later deny the drug. allegations. but a lot of the employees alleged that. he would force them to smoke weed so. that they really can't even leave the. company. cuz then he threatens to expose them for. doing drugs. Now, as for the garlic and vitamins, he. would argue that he just wanted his. employees to be healthier. I mean, think. about it. People spend lots of money on. supplements and garlic every year cuz. it's good for your health. I'm just. looking out for my employees. I don't. know what you're talking about. Now, let's talk about the brightly dyed.
hair. Remember in the beginning of the. story I told you it was like a bizarre. Skittles commercial inside of that. office building. There is a picture of. CEO Chairman Yang with his employees. He's got green hair. All of his. employees have like these bright red. hair, blue hair. It is said that he liked to force. everyone to dye their hair a fun color. because he thought it was funny. So. basically what he would do is he would. go out to these restaurants with his. employees while they're getting drunk. off beer and forced to wet themselves, he'd be like, wait a minute.
Look at that raw beef over there. It's a good color. You, I don't need to know your name. Dye your. hair that color tomorrow. Show up to. work or you're fired. They would bring out green onion salad. That's a good color. You, I want that on. your head. You would have to dye your hair and show. up to work with that color or else you. would be fired. How did he do this? He. actually had a salon that he worked with. in Korea where he had a company card on. there and all the employees would have. to go and dye their hair.
for the fun of it. Now, extra added. layer of nuance in South Korea, dying. your hair these colors like in America. it's cool. You have a sense of style. You're an individual. In South Korea, it's weird. Like people will stare at. you. You will not be treated as well. You will be judged by ajummas and. ajussis at the market. Like your whole. life will be impacted by the color of. your hair which is annoying, yes, but. that is literally how it is. There is a different explanation out. there on why they all had funky hair.
One allegation is that Yang actually. would. get everyone to dye their hair colors. because when you test for drugs in the. hair, the hair dye can mess with the. test. So maybe that's why he had a company. card at the hair salon but either way, what a bizarre thing. I don't know how he comes up with these. tortures and Yes, that's what I'm. saying. It's so creative and so sick. Yeah, so sick. So sick. Like if you used that creativity to come. up with like a Netflix show, you would. be the next Shonda Rhimes. Yeah, it.
would be the next Squid Game. Exactly. But instead, he's like, no, I'm going to. do it in real life and torture people. Oh, and of course at his company, it was. raging with sexual harassment. This guy. is the epitome of evil so of course. there's going to be sexual harassment. because that is the sad world that we. live in. He would force his female. employees to sit on his lap while he. played explicit videos. He would take pictures of female. employees without their consent and. apparently he had files upon files on.
his computer of his female employees. He would also write his name on them. Their thighs, their inner arms. He would. take pictures of his name written on. them as some sort of way to degrade and. humiliate them in front of their peers. And this one, I really don't know what. to think or how to feel about it but it. would really freak me out. He was really. into shamanism. So he would collect and force employees. to hand over fingernail clippings, hair. and blood. If he was really upset with.
you, he would let you know that he. performed a ritual and buried a doll. with your name and your DNA as he prayed. for your inevitable death to be long and. painful. Like imagine you come to work on a. Tuesday and your boss sits you down and. is like, okay, so this weekend, you know. what I did? Yeah, I buried a doll with. your name on it because you didn't hand. in the project on time. Yeah, this is. absolutely unreal. It's unhinged. It's. so unbelievable that someone like this. out there exists. Yeah. So clearly, the.
work culture here is horrendous. I mean, the worst that I've ever heard. But what. does the business even do? Like with all. the drinking and torture, do they even. have time to run a full scale company? Like how is it possible that this guy is. in charge of a company that rakes in. tens of millions of dollars in profits a. year? How has nobody stood up to him or. reported him? Like what kind of business. is this? To understand that, let's talk about a. girl named. Ashley and this is a fake name.
Ashley was a woman in South Korea and. Ashley had never worked for We Disk. She. actually doesn't know anyone that works. for We Disk. She has no affiliation with. We Disk. By all accounts, Ashley is a. normal citizen. She had just gotten. married. It's technically supposed to be. a very happy time in her life. but it was all being ruined. Okay, so Ashley would go to the store. She'll go to the market or the mall and. she would notice a few people just. staring at her. Not in like a glancing at her but we.
kind of stare at her as if they. recognized her from somewhere but they. would they didn't know exactly where. They couldn't put their finger on it. A lot of men in particular would do. this. And she tried to shake it off, you know, it's creepy but the world is generally. still a nice place, right? Then she started getting text messages. from old acquaintances that asked her, "Hey, are you okay?". "Do you know?". She's like, "No, about what?". And that is when Ashley found herself. calling We Disk's customer service. support.
An illegal file, an illegal video file. of hers was being shared on a internet. platform called We Disk and attracting. tens of thousands of views. This video. was ruining Ashley's life. Before Ashley. had gotten married, she had worked in. Japan as a sex worker. She had no idea that at one of these. motels that she was engaging in sex work. at had a hidden spy camera in the hotel. room. There was footage of her engaging in. explicit activities. Her face was right.
there uncovered. Nothing was censored. and that video that she didn't even know. existed from years and years ago. It. felt like a lifetime away from today. was being shared on We Disk and it was. haunting her. It was ruining her life. Imagine how utterly violated, disgusted. and gross she felt not only knowing that. this was illegally taken but now it's. being spread like wildfire on this seedy. website. We Disk is like adult site or. No. Okay, we're going to get into We.
Disk. So she calls We Disk and the. customer service guy is very, very. understanding of her situation. He. reassures her, "I'm going to do. everything that I possibly can to try. and suppress this video. There's only so. much that I can do though, however. If. people keep uploading it. it might not be something that I can. control, you know? I don't know how many. people out there have already downloaded. this and have this file in their. possession. I mean that makes sense, right? Okay, well, thank you. I appreciate your. trying.
She had no idea that right after this. man hung up the phone, he turned around. in the We Disk office and said, "Get this video up. I'm going to send. you the link. We're going to re-upload. it over and over. Make new accounts, upload this video.". The same video that he just promised. this woman to try and delete, he's. telling every single employee in that. office to upload it more. What is the reasoning? Because. if she had gotten word of this video. that means this video is going viral.
People like this video and viral videos. equals more money for We Disk. He doesn't care that her life was. impacted by it. He doesn't care. It's a. hot video that other people want to see. and that means money. So everyone is. instructed to upload that video over and. over again and if they got more calls. asking for it to be taken down, they all. lied and sympathetically said, "Yes, of. course, we're trying our best. I don't. know who all these random accounts are. They probably downloaded the video and.
they're re-uploading it.". Because at We Disk, the only thing that. mattered was well, keeping CEO Yang. happy but the bottom line. The company was willing to screw over. anyone for money and they mainly stuck. to screwing over women. So let's talk about the business of We. Disk. In terms of structure, in terms of. just structure minus all the actual. video content, think of We Disk kind of. like YouTube. Like not really but kind. of. So some general principles apply.
People, anyone in the world, can create. an account, post a video. And why will they post a video? Because. they're incentivized in some way to. post. Yes, there's love for creating, for getting publicity but to make it. simple users get paid when they post. videos that are viewed or in We Disk. situation are downloaded. So people not. only post videos but they post videos. that other people will want to download. so that they can make money. Other people will join We Disk and pay. membership fees or fees to download.
videos or bring in ad revenue because. there are videos that they want to. watch. So literally like YouTube. Some. of them might even think, "Wait a. minute. Look at these people making so. much money off uploading videos. I. should become an uploader, too.". Now, We Disk may have the right to push. certain videos further and they might. even have their own industry plants. We. Disk employees whose whole jobs. were just posting videos pretending to. be regular creators. Very interesting, right? But they're on. We Disk's payroll. The main point was to.
keep viewers entertained so they kept. coming. So in essence, We Disk is a video. company {slash} platform. Now, this is. where it gets a bit complicated and it's. very crucial because of South Korea's. the legal laws are different. When you. sit down on your laptop or computer or. open up your Gmail app, all those emails. that you open up on Gmail like your read. emails, unread, sent, drafted, all of. them are going to be ready for you. because you're connected to the. internet. But not all of these emails are stored.
on your device. because that would take up so much. space. So these big companies, Gmail, Google, YouTube, Microsoft, TikTok, they. have these big servers all over the. world. They're like these massive. physical like hard drives and they store. all the data. And the servers' main job. is, "Oh, okay, Stephanie just logged. into Gmail so let's show her all her. emails." And they'll send the data to my. computer. Right? So when you have. something in the cloud or not on your. device, it's actually not stored in like. the cloud. It's like stored in a.
database server, like a big computer. somewhere else so you can retrieve it. later. To put it simply, there's a ton. of different servers for a ton of. different things, you know, there's a. database server. So right now, you're. probably connected to the YouTube. database server who is giving you the. data so that you can view this video. right now instead of having it on your. computer. Now, why does this matter in. the scheme of We Disk? Let's say I want. to send you a video file. Thinking about. the easiest way, I would probably send. you a link to my YouTube video or I.
would upload a video file to a shared. Dropbox space. Then you receive the. video and then you can download it to. your computer if you want. But there is. a middleman. I am uploading my video to. the YouTube server and it's going to be. stored in the YouTube database or the. Dropbox database. There's a middleman and these middlemen. go off regulations and rules that are. set by different countries and different. government entities. There is something called P2P. This was. big back in like the early stages of the. internet. Peer-to-peer. Yes, you can download a video straight.
out of my computer to yours without a. middleman. People might want to do this for a few. reasons and the reasons that matter. today are it is the most cost-efficient. for the tech company because they don't. need to buy massive servers that cost. jeez, so much money. You don't have to. have a middleman telling you, "Oh, I. don't know if you should share this. file. Mm, the file doesn't go with my rules and. regulations so I'm not going to let you. share it.". Like if I were to post a video of. YouTube of my cat, it'll flag before it.
ever gets to you to download. So P2P is. a way to not have that censorship. Now, what We Disk does is say, "Hey, user. 123, thank you for joining We Disk. You. can now upload a video and make money. but in order to do that, you must also. give other We Disk users ability to. download directly off your network.". So peer-to-peer. We Disk saves a ton of. money and there's less censorship. Now, why is this important? In the early. 2000s of the internet world, it was a.
time of lawlessness, chaos. I'm talking, do you remember LimeWire? Mm-mm. Oh, this is like torrenting at. its peak. Torrent? Uh-uh, no. Copyrighted downloading of. Oh. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes. Okay, so there were like no. internet laws and if there were laws, it. was very weak laws. There were no. platforms like Netflix or Hulu really. Like if you wanted to watch a movie, you. would still have to go to Blockbuster to.
rent the movie. Half of you guys are. going to be like, "Blockbuster?" It's. like a DVD store. And if you want to. listen to a song, you would have to wait. for the buffering on a platform or you. would have to download it for like 99. cents a song. So people started using. P2P to download illegally off of each. other's computers without getting. flagged by a government entity or using. an illegal platform to do it. So many. people start using We Disk to download. TV shows, music, a lot of copyrighted. content and later on, the primary.
business of We Disk was pornographic. material. Now, let me tell you why this is. important. South Korea is one of the very few. countries that outlaws porn. still to this day. It is illegal to. produce and distribute porn. Now, in. 2023, it's very easy to access those. videos because all you need is a VPN. But back then. half these people had never seen these. types of films. You can't get it at the DVD store. You.
can maybe see an artistic movie that has. nudity involved. But they can download from We Disk? Yes. That's illegal or. Super illegal. Oh, so it's illegal. business. Yes. Okay, so We Disk would. allow people to download things off of. each other's computer. Now, remember how. I told you We Disk had a bunch of. employees pretending to be creators? Uh-huh. Because those employees were. uploading. But if they came out and said We Disk is. uploading it would be illegal. Oh.
So they would create these accounts. pretending to be random South Korean. civilians and upload these videos so. that We Disk could step back and say, "Oh, oh my god, we've been trying our. best to take down these videos." Ah, see. Yeah, that's not even the problem. Okay, that's literally not even the. problem. It's crazy. The biggest problem. was people on We Disk did not just want. to watch any sort of X-rated video. They. had two specific kinds that they liked, both of which were super illegal. Spy. cam molka videos,
which is hidden camera videos. These. criminals will go into motel rooms, love. motels, hide cameras in the wall, the. outlet, the shower head, the clock on. the wall. They will record all the. activities by these unconsenting. parties, and then upload it. Or the second, the biggest category for. We Disk, was revenge videos. Partners, typically boyfriends, who would take videos of their partner. either knowingly or not knowingly while.
they were dating doing sexual things. Once they broke up, they would put it. online. So, that was We Disk's business. And in. the beginning, employees would be sent. around to restaurants and internet. cafes, outside of schools, just standing. there passing out these small little. paper coupons. And you're about to trash. it, but then you read, "For 1 week, you. can download movies, music, TV shows, X-rated movies for free.". Of course, people are going to get. curious. A free 7-day membership? You're. telling me if I missed the episode of.
the Succession last night at 8:00 p.m., instead of waiting for a random rerun. and basing my whole schedule off of. that, I can just go home and rewatch it. now? That's good. People would rush home and. get on We Disk's website. But instead of. watching Succession, they would fall down the rabbit hole of. explicit material. And We Disk employees. knew exactly who they were targeting. They were not targeting girls that were. coming out of dorms. They were targeting. men. of different ages, young men,
impressionable men, so many men. And the. employees were very, very, very smart. Even their coupon is smart. Within 7. days, these men would be fully addicted. to the X-rated material on We Disk. There does seem to be other added layers. of why these people became so addicted. Again, like I said, they had probably. never even seen porn before up until. this point. And this part is sick, but a lot of men. were interviewed and were asked, "You. know, why do you watch videos like this?
You clearly know it's illegal. You. clearly know that these videos all have. a victim. Like these hidden camera. videos, these revenge videos, they all. have a victim that's very real. You're. hurting people. Why do you watch it?". And they said, "Well, the regular. X-rated stuff feels a little bit too. productiony.". All in all, We Disk was a flourishing. company, and it made the CEO Yang a very. rich man. It is said that he was making. about 40 million USD a year calculated.
for inflation, and his net worth was. said to be around 200 million dollars. He would also never let you forget it. Like if you ever told him that he was a. horrible human being, he would get in. your face and say, "You can sue me if. you want, but I have 200 million. dollars, and you don't." He actually had the. number one P2P website in South Korea at. one point. We Disk was number one, but. he also owned another company called. File Nori, which was number three of all. P2P websites in Korea. So, he's. basically like a P2P monopoly.
And both these sites, they focused on. revenge videos and spy cam videos. That. was the money maker. To give you perspective, in 2010 alone, around 200 illegal explicit videos were. uploaded per hour to these P2P websites. Per hour. Many of it wasn't even uploaded by third. parties, which is just as bad, but We. Disk was uploading them. The company. itself was uploading them. They would. actually go scour the internet for.
uploaded revenge videos from other parts. of the world. Japan was a big market for. them. And side note, before you get on. your high horse of like, "Oh, Asians.". America had a version of We Disk that. was taking place. Um it was called. isanyoneup.com. Website dedicated to just posting. revenge pictures and videos of women. The website has now since been taken. down, so. But this is not a Korea problem, it's a. global problem. So, We Disk would have. their employees, not all, but a big. selection of their employees, go online.
and download these illegal revenge. videos. Highly illegal in Korea. They go, they. download it, and they start posting it. on We Disk for South Korean consumption. What's crazy is We Disk is technically a. software company. It's a tech company. So, what they would do is a lot of these. websites in Japan, you cannot download. these videos off of, or you have to pay. a lot of money. In that case, We Disk. had company cards that you could use to. pay for that and download it. And if you. can't even pay to download it, they. created software to record the whole.
screen and the audio. This is like. before it was easily done, so that you could re-upload it back to. We Disk. They also had software that was. specifically created by We Disk for We. Disk for making the upload of these. videos faster. One employee would upload more than. 1,000 videos a day. They said 60% of. that was revenge videos. Jeez. That is 600 victims a day per employee.
The employee said, "We used around 500. IDs per employee to make it look like a. ton of regular people were uploading. these videos.". And uh you know, a lot of the questions. were, "How do you make 500 IDs though? If you've ever been to Korea, you need a. very specific ID number that only you. can have. One person only gets one ID, and it's government-issued to make an. account on any social media platform, on. any of these pages, even just food. delivery, you need that ID number.
How did you make 500 accounts?" "Oh, we. were granted permission by the. administrators of the We Disk's team. I mean, we just approve it from the. inside. Technically, the people who are. checking are We Disk. So. So, it's like fake account, you're. saying? So, we just create a bunch of fake. accounts and then modify the IP. addresses so it looked like it was real. IP addresses from all over Korea, and not just from our office. We also had special software to make. sure that the videos uploaded quickly, and to keep track of all of the.
different accounts. Now, according to. many employees, each employee that was. involved in this shady uploading process. was able to bring in. close to 100 $50,000 a month to We Disk. One employee. So, a handful of employees could make a. million dollars a month. They're not. making it, We Disk is making it. They would get paid commission on that. as well. It definitely was nowhere near. a million dollars, but it was definitely. incentive for these people to stay. To. avoid police detection, because this is.
super illegal, they used fake accounts, fake IDs, special USBs for computers. So, they would have all these computers. in the office, and if you were to sit. down and log into one, it would look. like your generic a library computer, your generic guest computers at the. apartment's amenity center. There was. nothing on there, it looks like a guest. page, you can't really do anything. But. the minute that you input the correct. USB into the correct USB drive little. insert, the whole desktop changes. Wow. It is suddenly the screen of a.
master X-rated material uploader. They would make sure to guard those USBs. with their life. All the accounts that they uploaded on. were deleted within 2 weeks, but they. were also scrubbed of money. So, it gets complicated, but it's it's. crazy. Let's say an employee at We Disk. uploads a video using a fake username. pretending to be a civilian. That video, probably a legal video with a victim, gets downloaded 100,000 times. Let's, just for the purpose of making it easy, let's say We Disk makes $100 from it.
So, the company takes $100, like how. YouTube takes ad revenue. Probably more, but again, just for ease of explanation. They make $100. Now, the uploader, the. creator, will make $25 from the video. Mhm. So, We Disk gets 100, you get a 25. Now, the problem is, if you close the. account with money still in there, that. looks shady. The government would be. like, "What kind of idiot would close. their YouTube account or their We Disk. account without taking out the money. they earned? That is bizarre.".
So, what do they do? Now, if they take out the money and put. it into a random bank, that's a paper. trail, and you can't open up 500. different banks every day. So, the We Disk employees would create. these really stupid. purchasing abilities on We Disk, the. platform. They said, "For the low price. of $10, you can make your font yellow. and sparkly. For the low purchase price of $5, you. can make your video title bubble up and.
down." No one's really spending money on. that, because why would anyone spend. money on that? Unless you're a We Disk. employee that has $25 that you need to. funnel back into We Disk somehow. So, you would, "Okay, bubble font, bright. yellow font, mhm, heart emoji, let's do. the Hello Kitty." And you would spend. all the money in this creator's account, and then close it down. Mhm. So, it's. like money laundering. Yeah, basically. money laundering at its finest. Now, for all of this, April 2011,
Yang Jin-Ho was arrested the first time. for uploading copyrighted movies to his. platform. Not even the revenge videos, not even the spy cam videos. He was rather quickly released from. prison, and he went back to being, {quote} the emperor of the spy cam. empire. So, from 2011 until 2018, when [ __ ] hit the fan again, he was. doing atrocious things. That's a lot of years, that's 7 years. In 2018, the video of him slapping his.
employee surfaces on the internet. The. one that we talked about earlier this. episode. And let's go over that whole. story. So, on We Disc, there are. different places where you can leave. posts. You don't have to post videos or. pictures. You can just write a forum, like little word post. Anyone can do. this. You can make an ID and do it. You. don't need an ID to do it. But there were three IDs that were made. that really bothered We Disc. The IDs. were Yang Jin-ho, the CEO's name, and. Yang Jin-ho-da, which means it's Yang. Jin-ho, and lastly, Jin-ho-byung-shin,
which means bitch-ass Jin-ho. Calling. the CEO bitch-ass? Yeah. And the IDs would um create their. own post just mocking the CEO. There. wasn't anything dangerous in the post. It's not like the poster was doxxing the. CEO or threatening his life. They were. just mocking the CEO saying things like, "It's me, peasants. I'm Yang Jin-ho. I. know you're working hard, but you'll. never get paid like this anywhere else.". Just making fun of how horrendous We. Disc is. He also took jabs at the former. manager, one of the other executives at.
We Disc. Again, is it a good thing to. do? No. Is it a professional thing to. do? No. But is it the end of the world. for these people? Absolutely not. Within a few hours though, the We Disc. team tracks down the IP addresses of. these new accounts and gives them to Mr. Yang. He finds out it was an ex-employee. of his that used to work as an engineer. at We Disc, and Yang was pissed. He. messaged him, "It's me, Yang Jin-ho. I had fun reading your posts. Listen, I respect that you have.
different opinions about me and your. colleagues and and my company, but you. got to at least take responsibility for. your actions, right? So, buckle up, kid, cuz it's my turn." He texts the former. employee, "You little [ __ ] that can't. even apologize.". The former employee probably just posted. this to let off steam. Like they had no. intention of being found out by Mr. Yang. They just wanted to let out their. trauma and frustrations. It's honestly. kind of. Okay, it's not harmless, but you get it. It's not that big of a deal. Yeah, but compared to what the CEO.
probably did to him or everyone else, what are you talking about? Exactly. You're allowed to freaking. abuse people. You can't even allow other. people to complain? Are you kidding me? And it's not even It's not even a. threat. It's literally just like a. mocking joke. Like an elementary-style. joke. The employee was freaked out, terrified. He's anonymous to this day, but just think of the power imbalance. So, the ex-employee texts him back, "I'm. sorry, Mr. Yang. I didn't do this with. malicious intent. I just visited We Disc. after a long time of staying away from.
the platform, and I randomly had the. urge to write what I thought was silly, and you know, and it's not appropriate, so I deleted it soon after, and I'm just. very sorry, Mr. Yang." I already saw. everything. You don't even know how to. say sorry, so I'm going to make you take. responsibility for this. I'll take care of you in the way that I. always methodically do things. You really forgot my personality, huh? I mean, it's just threat after threat. Like what does he mean he's going to. force him to take responsibility? What. methodical process of taking care of it.
is he talking about? And also, you. really don't know my personality or you. forgot my personality. It's to imply. that he's going to do something horrible. to the ex-employee. So, this employee tries to apologize. once more over the messages, "I'm so. sorry, Mr. Yang.". You better come over here and get on. your knees to beg for forgiveness. I will never do anything like this. again. It was so stupid. I will. apologize to your colleagues as well or. whoever you need me to. Do you think that I'm asking you to. apologize? Like you have a choice?
Never mind. I think that you think you. have choices in all of this, and I guess. you're just not listening. So, let me be very, very frank with you. You are a person who doesn't want to. take responsibility, and I will feel. more comfortable having no sympathy when. I talk to you. Don't say sorry. From now on, I'm going to work on a plan. for you. I I'm so sorry, Mr. Chairman Yang. Please, I'm so sorry. Are you challenging me? I said I don't. accept your apology, and pick up my.
calls because now I have to get my. feelings out, you [ __ ] coward. I'll call you right back, sir. I'm so. sorry. I'm at work right now. So, after work and after all these. messages, the ex-employee/poster. visited Yang's company and was. assaulted. The video in question, I. mean, yeah, of course, to impersonate and mock someone online. is not the right thing to do, but Mr. Yang's reaction, even his messages, out. of this world. Like South Korea is no stranger to. workplace harassment. In fact, there's a. whole lingo for it. There is a word.
called gapjil, and it means someone in. power that abuses their power and is. abusive. We've seen this with like the. Korean Air gapjil heiress. Koreans said that during quarantine, when they worked from home, things were. getting better, and they thought maybe. society was progressing to get better, but recently, they all went back to work. and they said, "It's so bad. Workplace. harassment is making a comeback.". Whether it's physical or verbal abuse or. sexual harassment, it is just non-stop. So, the old companies like Samsung, like.
these older establishments, you kind of. expect it. You expect to be overworked, run to the ground, devastated, but at. least you probably get paid more than. most people. Now, the newer companies, it's said they. run off of this Western environment. They You know, like KakaoTalk, Naver, they all tout themselves as like Meta, Mm. They didn't start with that. Google, YouTube. We're the tech world. But recently, they too have had. scandals. A lot of people anonymously.
post about working at KakaoTalk, which. is just miserable. They said it's like a. dictatorship. There were multiple. employees who died of a heart attack. from Naver, and it's said that they died. of overwork. But even in comparison to that, this. video was shocking. It was watched by. practically every single Korean citizen. The news organization, Newstapa, that. we've talked about with this Howard. Ferry case, Newstapa was able to find. the ex-employee and get him to sit down. for an anonymous interview. A lot of. netizens just had a hard time.
comprehending, "Why did you even go? Why did you go? Like you know he's. violent. Why did you go?". And he said, "Well, I have no choice. He. is so scary. He said he was going to. work on something for me, and knowing. him, he loves revenge." He also said he. had no idea that this video existed. because the assault happened in 2015. He. was interviewed after the video was. released in 2018. He said recently he. found out this video existed. He didn't. know. So, he didn't know that he had any.
power against Mr. Yang. He had to move. to the countryside in South Korea and. develop a completely new lifestyle. He. had to leave the tech industry because, you know how in America we have so many. big, big metropolitan areas, so you can. have tech startups in New York and SF. and LA and Atlanta and Dallas. In Korea, the big companies are all in Seoul, and. they all work with each other or they. all meet in the same meeting areas. They. have a lot of not shared spaces, but. places that everyone will frequent. because they work in this industry. He.
was so terrified, he could not even be a. software engineer anymore. He gave up his whole career. It was just. terrifying. I mean, he said he tried. He. got a couple new jobs at a different IT. places, and every time he would be drawn. into meetings near the We Disc company. office. Sometimes in the same building. Sometimes there would be conferences. where the We Disc team would also show. up. He just couldn't do it. He also said he. found out that the person who uploaded. the video was an ex-employee who was.
told to film the video. And everyone's. like, "What do you mean he was told?". Apparently, Mr. Yang, the CEO, ordered. an employee to take the video of the. assault. This is so bizarre. This guy is. so cocky and so brazen that he wanted. someone to record him being the scum of. the earth. He said it is a souvenir. If. other employees want to act up or post. about him or mock him online, he's going. to send them this video to show them. that's what's going to happen to you. then. This guy was so cocky, he felt he.
was so untouchable that he ordered. someone to take this video of him. Most people would be like, "Don't take a. video of me doing this horrendous thing. I'm trying to hide this from the world.". He's like, "No. I'm trying to show the. world.". Wow, he really thinks he's like the king. of Korea. Yeah. The ex-employee also. said, "You know, I personally understand. the situation.". I think a lot of people online were. confused about how there could be so. many employees that just sit and watch, but I get it. When you work there, you're not allowed to go up against.
Yang. You are only allowed to obey him. So, because of the company culture, I. don't think that anyone could have even. stopped him from what he did, so I'm not. mad at them. There's even a Korean website called Job. Planet. It's a bit like Glassdoor. It's. a Yelp for businesses for verified. employees to anonymously write about. their experience working at these. companies. We Disc is rated 1.8 out of. five with only 4% of employees. recommending We Disc to other. applicants. Many employees wrote, "If you're willing. to do anything for your boss,
come here.". Yeah. This is basically a porn website. management company. A company that's very similar to the. army. If you've never been to the army, this is the closest you will get. Other. employees talked about how it's nearly. impossible to survive in the company if. you're a woman or if you don't like. smoking, bullying, and drinking every. night. Oh, and they stated We Disc will track. your IP addresses when you're off work. to micromanage your life to make sure. you never betray the company. Many. people accused the company of stooping. down to any level, willing to do.
anything. Many former employees accused. We Disc of corroding Korean society. They brought up the illegal revenge. videos, the spycam videos that are. posted on there, but nothing was being. done. Side note, many employees did state that. they felt really bad for their hand in. the spreading of all these illegal. videos. One of them stated, "At the. time, I didn't have guilt, but now I. realize what I did was very bad. Maybe I. even ruined someone's life. What we did was wrong.". Okay, do I think that it absolves them.
of wrongdoing? No. Okay, it's confusing. cuz in their own right they are victims. of workplace violence and harassment and. I can see how hard that is. But also, many of them stayed with the promise of. money even after they realized what kind. of videos that they were working on. Now, I don't know what it was. Maybe. once you enter WeDisk you're told if you. quit for whatever reason, even if you. give a really good excuse, I will make. your life miserable. I will find you, hunt you down, and kill your family. members. I don't know what they were. told. I don't know why they didn't. leave, but it is um yeah. There are a.
lot of victims to this case. So, I can't. say that I feel the utmost sympathy for. these victims versus the ones that were. the subjects of the videos. I feel like if the business model was. different or if they weren't doing. anything illegal or heinous, I would. have nothing but sympathy for these. employees who are just trying to feed. their families, you know? But this this. feels a bit different, you know? Where do you stand on this topic? I'd. love to know your thoughts, but also the. professor in the beginning of this story. that was assaulted by the CEO in the.
room. He didn't move on after being. beaten. He was still harassed by Yang. non-stop. He was being left threatening. calls saying things like I'm going to. give you 1 month, so go and live. yourself. Yeah, he was egging him on. He. would say things like he would leave. voicemails. Are you driving to the. school right now? You should drive into. the Han River instead. Eventually Yang got bored and moved on, but when those terrifying calls stopped, the professor still had to deal with a. cervical spine sprain, multiple. fractures, TMJ disorder, headaches,
migraines, vertigo, and severe PTSD. because of his beating. He had to go to a psychiatrist. He lost. his job as a professor. He couldn't even. finish the book that he was in the. middle of writing. So, finally, November. 7th of 2018, the emperor of the spy cams. was arrested. And here's the frustrating. part. Apparently, he knew that the cops. were going to raid WeDisk 3 days before. they did. How? Ex-employees alleged that. Yang had bribed a ton of the high. officials including prosecutors in.
Seoul. They stated that one time a. prosecutor straight up came into the. meeting with them and coached them on. what to say. Imagine a prosecutor comes. in and is like, "Hey, I'm about to. arrest the [ __ ] out of you guys. So, here's what I think you should say so. that we can go easy on you.". They had the three full days. Can you. imagine how much footage evidence was. destroyed in 3 days? This is the thing. and this happens everywhere in the US as. well. The police won't do anything until they. are forced by the public. Until the public is, "Hey, either it's.
that guy's head on a stick or we're. going to put your head on a stick. You. pick." Then the police are like, "Well, don't take my head. Let's go after him. You're right." And you're like, "Are you. serious right now?" So, that video went. viral and it was all the backlash that. caused the prosecutors to have to. investigate WeDisk because it was. leading into who even is the CEO and. then to wait, what even is WeDisk? And. then people being like, "Oh, you don't. know WeDisk? All they do is post revenge. videos.". So, he was arrested for charges related.
to assault, harassment, abuse, drugs. He. hired the best attorney money could buy. He admitted to the things that he was. caught on video doing. So, the chickens. and the slapping of the employee, but he. gave very thought-out excuses to all of. that. He's like, "Well, I was just very. passionate man, you know? I'm just protecting my other co-workers. from my ex-employee." Meanwhile, he. denied anything that didn't have. concrete evidence attached to it. And he. also apologized, but it was very.
verbatim he said, "I know I did wrong, so I'm sorry.". I don't know who he's apologizing to. It doesn't seem like he ever addressed. or apologized to the victims of the. revenge videos or the spy cam videos. The biggest victims in this case. He was. sentenced to 7 years in prison, which he. immediately appealed. And in his second. trial in 2020, the judge lowered his. sentence from 7 years to 5 years. He was. forced to pay a $20,000 fine. He did.
have multiple trials though. One of them. was for the harassment. One of them was. for the illegal uploading of videos. That one he was sentenced to 5 years. All in all, with his appeals, he was. sentenced to a whopping total of 12. years in prison. And all I have to say is, and this is a. sentiment that is shared with a lot of. people in South Korea against spy cam. and revenge videos, I don't think that this is going to. teach him a lesson. And society teaches. women to feel ashamed when a man does.
something wrong against them, but they. never teach that man to respect women. I. don't think 12 years and a $20 fine. basically is going to teach Yang to. respect women. The penalty of these crimes should match. the trauma that the victims will have to. carry for the rest of their lives. In. lots of countries, speaking of, women. cannot even use the restroom in peace. I. saw people commenting to talk about this. cuz we were recently in Korea, but. the spy cam videos that we talked about. in today in connection with WeDisk, a. lot of those videos were indeed motel.
footage that was illegally taken. But. even in public bathrooms and subway. stations, nothing is safe anymore for. anyone, for women, for children, for. men. If you go into a woman's bathroom. in Korea, it is very common to see, you. know, like if you go to like the older. areas, you see some holes in the wall or. cracks in the stone. Women will stuff. those areas, those holes with wet tissue. or draw over with marker. There will be. some signs outside of subway station. bathrooms that say that this bathroom is. being monitored by a team of the police.
that are dedicated to detecting hidden. cameras. Women can quite literally not. even [ __ ] in peace. Male colleagues have been caught in. South Korea hiding secret cameras in the. female colleagues' bathrooms. A famous news anchor in South Korea was. caught taking upskirt pictures in the. subway of girls. A famous news anchor. He was going up. the stairs and he his whole phone was. filled with upskirt shots. There are literal companies now in South. Korea that you can hire that will come. out to check that given area for hidden.
cameras. Obviously, that's a luxury for. most people that most people cannot. afford and would not even be feasible on. a day-to-day basis because okay, fine, you go to a hotel and then what? You. just have to hire people to pay a bunch. of money to look for cameras? It's. crazy. It's primarily right now being. used for government activities, but it's insane that there's a market. for it. They found waterproof cameras in. shower heads, outlets that have hidden. cameras, cameras in clothing hangers, in.
changing rooms. And a lot of these are. Wi-Fi. So, this person installs it, they. never have to go back for it. They get. the live feed. And these live feeds are. being channeled into these platforms, illegal platforms that creepy disgusting. people will pay anywhere in the ballpark. of $50 a month to watch all these live. streams. Cameras will be hidden in teddy bears, lotion bottles at hotels. It looks like. a bottle of lotion and you put lotion in. there, but at the bottom, it's a camera. and it's part of the design. You would.
never see it. Screws on the wall, picture frames. You can buy sunglass. cameras, hat cameras like the baseball. caps that have a camera, car keys. cameras, water bottles. These camera. feeds get live streamed and the main. target is unfortunately women. And what. do the police do? Not much. In 2019, almost half of sexual digital crime. cases were dropped by the police in. South Korea. To many police officers, not all police, but many.
This is just something that happens. because men can't control themselves. These police officers basically just. accept the fact that some men out there. are gross and they expect the rest of. the world, aka women, to just kind of. live with the consequences of that. So, women are told to wear masks into public. restrooms because it helps keep your. identity hidden in case. there is a hidden camera that is posted. online of you, of you peeing. Yeah. But I do think that times are.
changing. Um in Korea, there have been. organized marches of not just women. showing up, but a lot of men showing up. to march with signs that read, "My life. is not your porn." Enough backlash has. gotten the government to create entities. that are tasked with ridding public. places like hotels, motels, bathrooms of. these cameras. And a lot more men are. standing up to other men online to let. them know, "Hey, this video is not. acceptable." Which is really great, but. it doesn't change what's still going on. Okay, so this is from an interview and.
not me finding revenge videos and. watching them, but an interview of a guy. watching revenge videos. He said the. comments would read things like, "Sorry. to the girl, but thanks for uploading. this. Love it." They said in revenge. videos, a lot of the comments would joke. actively about how this girl is [ __ ]. now. Like her life is over now. And they. will still continue to show this video. So, these people. sad because guys are never the victim in. this scenario, right? The other guy, even if they see the face, they don't. think that guy is [ __ ] No. They only.
think the girl is [ __ ] Yeah. It. doesn't even make sense. I think we. should start shaming victims of all. crime then. Just so maybe people will. start being like, "Okay, yeah, why do we. shame victims of crime?" Cuz that's. crazy. Like if you got mugged on the. street, should I start shaming you? That's insane. Should I be like, "Well, your life is [ __ ] now, so." LOL. Thanks for uploading the video. There is a recent case and this is not. just happening in South Korea. There is. a recent scandal between reality stars. where the boyfriend secretly recorded. doing the deed with his other reality.
star famous girlfriend in their house. while they were dating. So, these are. two stars. They break up. He posts this. video to promote his new OF account. He. was sent to prison because she found. out. She didn't know this video was. created. She didn't know he was going to. upload it. It's a revenge video. There's. a whole Daily Mail article about how. the Daily Mail, never a great source, but the fact that they dedicated. paragraphs to how sad this man was, how. he was so shaken up that he was being.
sent to prison and how it's very rough. time for him and he's literally what? Like I have no idea who these people. are. I have no idea if they're good. people in other aspects of their life or. if they've done other bad things, but. none of that matters and. Wait, so he secretly recorded a video. And then posted it. And posted it and tried to make money. out of it. And now he's like. so sad. He's like, "I'm heartbroken. My family. is ruined.". god, dude. And the Daily Mail is posting. it like he's heartbroken. Look at him. Let's give him a couple paragraphs to. talk about his feelings. So again, I.
don't know if these are horrible people, but none of it matters because in this. particular case, it's a revenge video, it's illegal, he belongs in prison, he. was wrong, she is a victim of this. But. some of the comments read, "The video is. pretty decent to be honest." Another one. read, "He made a mistake and it's going. to cost him dear time. People move on. Stop demonizing him. Let the first. person without sin cast the first stone. Will people finally be happy if he ends. his life in jail?". So much sympathy for what?
For what? Some people just commented, "She's milking it now. He's a vile. creature and deserved everything he got, but like come on.". Sorry, but enough already. If this poor. girl is as traumatized as she says, why. keep bringing it up? Get therapy, move. on and stop trying to get in the papers. Uh, I can see she's making the most out. of this publicity. I was genuinely shocked. I didn't I. really I mean it's the Daily Mail, but I. did not expect the comments to be like. that and to me.
that just reaffirms why revenge videos. still exist and why they aren't going. away and why they're going to become an. even bigger problem. I feel like we just. do not value a woman's trauma. And that. is where I will leave you with today's. case and story. What are your thoughts? What are the most shocking aspects of. this case? The company's culture, the. actual company's crimes, and do you. think Mr. Yang is just going to quietly. come out and be a tech guru again? Because he's just going to wreak more. havoc and menace to women and employees. everywhere? with $200 million?
Yeah. I don't think he will stop, yeah. Please stay safe and I will see you guys. on Wednesday for the main episode. Bye.
