A Korean YouTube star, who said she was forced to pose nude and groped while doing it, is now receiving online hate after her statements appear to contradict her text messages to a person in-charge of the photo studio.

Yang Ye Won and her boyfriend run the YouTube channel Beagle Couple, which has 228,000 subscribers to date.

Last 16 May, Yang Ye Won shocked Korea when she uploaded a video in which she tearfully said that was forced to do nude photoshoots and she was groped and touched by men intimately during the photoshoots.

Her revelation, which now has six million views, added fuel to the growing Me Too movement in Korea, which began this year and toppled some Korean celebrities.




Yang Ye Won posted the video after her nude photos were posted on adult websites in Korea. The photoshoots were done in 2015.

In the video, shared on Allkpop, she said: ‘I’m a victim of a sex crime.’

She said she signed up for five photoshoots and claimed that the director of the photo studio told her it would just be a normal photoshoot.

Yang Ye Won said she was forced to pose in nude and that men touched her breasts and vagina.

‘I thought to myself that I might be raped and dead if I don’t follow along. So I just continued, trying to get out of here alive. I opened my legs wide, stuck my tongue out, held my breasts, and pulled down my underwear when they told me to,’ she added.

Her revelation ignited a national petition that was posted on the website of the President of South Korea. Popular singers and actresses also helped her by signing the petition.

However, her statements are now being ridiculed after her past conversations with the person in-charge of the photo studio through the Korean instant messaging app KakaoTalk were revealed.

The chats showed that she had 13 photoshoots and not five, and that she agreed to the photoshoots and even asked for more bookings.

‘How about Saturday night? I need to submit my classes fee by Sunday so I need to do it one more time before then. If there’s a conflict in schedule, can we do it next week with me receiving the payment in advance…I wanted to ask. If that doesn’t work, can you schedule me in difficultly. Obviously, I can’t do much otherwise,’ her messages to the person read, posted on news.nate.com.

The person said: ‘The schedules were set most of the time because she contacted me as she needed money. I gave her 100,000-150,000 KRW ($93 – $140) hourly. We filmed up to 13 times. The filming took place with her agreement and I even asked her if she could follow through with the concept ahead of time during the interview.’

In response, Yang Ye Won told SBS News: ‘Do you think I would be crazy to give them permission, to touch my body? I never told them to lay a hand on my body. I also never agreed to wear such an attire.’



She added: ‘At the time, it was very difficult financially. I gave up on myself because I had already been filmed/photographed shamefully. My life was ruined already, it was over, I gave up. Everything will be revealed in court.’

Netizens are now giving her online abuse on her YouTube channel, branding her story a scam.

‘As a fellow woman, I supported her petition and cried with her while watching her YouTube video… so she fooled the entire country? After her nudes were released, she filmed the video acting like she was a victim and lied all along?,’ one Korean commented, according to Netizen Buzz.

Another said: ‘She’s going to go down in history as the bitch who forced other actual victims of #metoo and sexual harassment to not come forward with their stories. Please throw this bitch in jail.’

‘She scammed the entire country,’ wrote a netizen while another posted. ‘She’s a scam. Now because of her, actual victims won’t be able to come forward.’

Meanwhile, the studio accused of sexual harassment denied all the accusations, and told Yonhap News: ‘The photo shoot took place with Ye Won’s agreement. We did not force it.

‘At the time, we obtained the signature from the photographers, promising not to leak the photos. Things are flowing in an odd direction when what we actually have to do is find the person who leaked the photos. I’m also going to be suing her back for false allegations.’

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