Home > National > Social Affairs

Police correct statement on assault of Taiwanese YouTuber in Hongdae, say attacker was Korean

Published: 17 Sep. 2025, 20:48 Updated: 17 Sep. 2025, 20:57

Seoul Mapo Police Station [JUN YUL]

Seoul police on Wednesday corrected an earlier statement about an assault on a Taiwanese YouTuber in the Hongdae neighborhood after initially saying a Chinese man was responsible. Police confirmed the attacker was a Korean man.

Taiwanese outlet FTV reported that 26-year-old Liu Li-ying, a YouTuber with 460,000 subscribers, was slapped and beaten by a stranger after rejecting his approach while walking in Hongdae, a popular nightlife district in western Seoul. Liu said she suffered bruises on her limbs and a fractured finger.

After media inquiries, police said on Wednesday morning that “At 5:20 a.m. on Sept. 15 near Hongdae in Mapo District, a Chinese man in his 20s assaulted a Taiwanese YouTuber and her companion. He was voluntarily taken to the police station but expressed a desire to leave, so he was released.”

Liu later reiterated that her attacker was Korean. Police reexamined the case and confirmed that the assailant was in fact Korean, not Chinese. On Wednesday afternoon, police revised their statement.

“At 5:34 a.m. on Sept. 14 on Hongdae Street, a Taiwanese woman and a Korean man had a scuffle that resulted in mutual assault," police said. "Both parties said they did not wish to press charges, and the case was closed at the scene.”

Crowds pack the streets of Hongdae in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Oct. 26, 2024. [YONHAP]

Police explained that they had confused Liu’s case with another case involving a different Taiwanese woman who was attacked by a Chinese man.

“At 5:27 a.m. on Sept. 15 on Hongdae Street, a Taiwanese woman was assaulted by a Chinese man. The case is still under investigation by the criminal division,” police said.

The head of Mapo Police Precinct’s Criminal Division 1 said the mix-up happened because the two women’s names and ages were similar, and the incidents occurred around the same time and in nearby locations.

“The YouTuber case was settled on site and not reported to the criminal division. When we first received a reporter’s inquiry, we issued a statement based on the other case,” the official said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE YOUNG-KEUN [[email protected]]