Anyone can make mistakes, and some mistakes are worse than others.
On the internet, most people and platforms agree that one of the worst things someone can do is be a sex offender.
For this reason, some platforms have policies that refuse the creation of accounts by these criminals.
Go Young-Wook was convicted of sexual assault involving minors. He served his sentence and tried to come back clean.
He attempted to put his past behind him and expected the world to do the same and welcome him.
This is where he got it wrong
The former member of the '90s K-Pop group Roo’Ra was sent to 2.5 years in prison in 2013 for sexually harassing and assaulting a minor. After being released in 2015, he remained quiet for a whole 5 years after that.
In 2020, he tried opening an Instagram account.
But the public that realized Go Young-Wook's attempt to return to the public view to "revive" his career, quickly mass-reported him.
Sooner than later, Instagram terminated his account, referring to its policy that does not allow convicted sex offenders to create account on its platform.
"Convicted sex offenders aren’t allowed to use Instagram. If you’ve seen an account that may belong to a convicted sex offender, please report it to us. Once we’re able to verify someone’s status as a sex offender, we’ll immediately disable their account," Instagram explained.
Instagram knows no mercy, and sex offenders would get themselves kicked out as soon as they're found.
"Looks like my Instagram got deleted. I didn’t mean to block comments. I wanted to allow only my followers to be able to leave comments. And I was going to start following accounts. But I received a lot of DMs. The account was disabled shortly after. I couldn’t log in after that. Thank you for your interest while it lasted, though!" Go Young-Wook said.
부끄러운 삶을 살았습니다..집에서 넋두리하며 형편없이 늙고 있는 거 같아서 무기력한 일상에서 벗어나고자 두서없이 유튜브를 시작해 봅니다..무더위에 건강 조심하세요!https://t.co/ArLANXo9hZ
— Ko (@goyoungwook) August 5, 2024
This time, Go Young-Wook is trying his luck again.
But knowing that he doesn't even have the slightest chance to be on Instagram, he uses his X account to promote his YouTube channel.
"I've lived a shameful life. I feel like I'm just sitting at home muttering and growing old in a pitiful way, so I'm starting a Youtube channel out of nowhere to escape from my listless daily life [...] " he said.
The first video he uploaded to YouTube, is titled Fresh.
The music video shows nothing much other than his dog and a tablet playing music.
The lyrics is full of contemplation and the desire to escape from the monotony of everyday life.
"As far as I can go, wherever I can reach, there’s nowhere to go," the lyrics said.
"Want to leave, somewhere no one can find me."
The existence of the video is enough to send a lot of South Koreans to a reporting spree, demanding YouTube to remove Go Young-Wook from the platform.
In all, they demand both X and YouTube to remove Go Young-Wook's accounts, in an attempt to silence him once and for all.
"I would be too ashamed to try reviving a dead career like that… He’s unbelievable," said one commenter.
Despite serving his time in prison, which means that Go Young-Wook is legally a free man and innocent, South Korean netizens are known for their undeterred opinions and their unforgiving stance.
And here, Go Young-Wook remains high on the list of Korean celebrities who are universally hated by the Korean public.
Go Young-Wook was under fire when he was charged with sexual abuse allegations with a minor.
It started back in May 2023, when the police were alerted about Go Young-Wook and how he allegedly had sexual relations with minors in exchange of promises of making them into a celebrities.
After Go Young -Wook’s defense lawyer dropped out of the case on January 30 according to the court, he was given a public defender as his lawyer, designated by the court on January 1.
Go Young -Wook apologized for the first time since the incident first blew up, saying, "I′m sorry for causing such trouble. I will help the investigation as much as I can."
The police questioned him on January 3 for molesting a minor. It then requested an arrest warrant on January 8, merging together the previous cases that had been transferred to prosecution in 2012.
On January 10, the Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant for Go Young-Wook on charges of having illicit sex with and molesting minors.
There were three cases of sexual assault but two of them were dropped.
On 23 January 2013, the Prosecutor’s Office announced that Go Young-Wook shall be arrested and indicted for three charges of sexual harassment of a minor.
