Cover image via @liying0731 (Threads)
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A Taiwanese YouTuber has alleged that Seoul police dismissed her complaint after she was slapped and beaten in the popular Hongdae district, telling her to "go home and rest" because "this kind of thing happens often"
The victim, 26-year-old Liu Liying — who has more than 460,000 subscribers on YouTube — shared her account in a Threads post earlier this week.
She said she and two friends were standing outside a shop in Hongdae — a popular tourist area in Seoul's Mapo District — in the early hours of 14 September when two men approached and suggested they "spend the night together".
According to Liu, the men began putting their arms around her and touching her friend's hair.
"I told them, 'Don't touch my friend, you are not related to us in any way,'" she wrote in her Threads post, which has garnered close to 50,000 likes.
One of the men allegedly responded by giving her the middle finger.
After she cursed back, he allegedly slapped her across the face and struck her again when she mocked him in return.
"I started screaming, 'Why did you hit me?' and people began watching," she wrote.
Bystanders initially offered to call the police, but backed off after learning she was a foreigner
Liu said she then called the police herself while holding onto her alleged attacker's bag to prevent him from leaving.
When officers arrived, Liu claimed they separated the parties but "only checked my passport number and then released the assailant", advising her to go home instead of pursuing the matter.
They told her to "go home and rest" because "this kind of thing happens often".
She later shared photos of her injuries on Instagram Stories, showing large bruises on her arms and legs, scratch marks, and a fractured thumb.
"Why do people always blame the victim instead of the assailant?" she wrote, criticising those who suggested her clothing or behaviour had provoked the attack.
The case has drawn widespread attention after police initially said the assailant was a Chinese man in his 20s
Liu maintained her attacker was Korean, and Mapo Police Precinct later admitted they had confused her case with another assault involving a different Taiwanese woman attacked by a Chinese man in the same area the next day.
However, in their statement, the police dismissed the case as a "mutual disagreement" between the victim and her alleged attacker.
"At 5.34am, on 14 September, on Hongdae Street, a Taiwanese woman and a Korean man had a scuffle that resulted in mutual assault," police said in a corrected statement.
"Both parties said they did not wish to press charges, and the case was closed at the scene."
The precinct explained that the mix-up occurred because the two Taiwanese women had similar names and ages, and their cases happened within hours of each other.
"When we first received a reporter's inquiry, we issued a statement based on the other case," said the head of Mapo's Criminal Division 1.
Liu, however, said she intends to obtain a medical report and return to the police station to file a formal complaint.
Her case has sparked debate online, with netizens sharing similar experiences of harassment in Seoul and questioning the police response.
View on Threads
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