"Shh, It's a Secret" The Inconsiderate YouTuber's Behavior on the Train

Secret Smoking on Dongtan to Busan SRT
"Shh, Secret" Smoke Emitted on Camera

A YouTuber is causing controversy by live streaming herself secretly smoking inside a moving train.

A YouTuber secretly smoking and broadcasting inside a moving SRT train.
[Photo by JTBC, captured from the 'Incident Chief' news footage]

According to a report by JTBC's 'Sageonbanjang' on the 19th, on the 15th, a female passenger on the SRT train traveling from Dongtan to Busan secretly smoked inside the restroom and broadcasted the act live.

The woman, who was conducting a live YouTube broadcast, put her index finger to her lips as if signaling a secret while heading to the restroom, then took out an electronic cigarette from her pocket and smoked.

During the smoking, the woman whispered to viewers, "I came here to smoke secretly." She even blew smoke in front of the camera, saying, "Shh, it's a secret."

Under the current Railroad Safety Act, smoking is prohibited inside trains. If caught, a fine of up to 1 million won can be imposed, and if the fire detector inside the train is triggered due to smoking, it can cause further disruptions to the operation.

However, the number of smoking violations on trains has been increasing every year. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Democratic Party lawmaker Maeng Seong-gyu, from 2018 to June of this year, a total of 806 smoking violations were recorded on trains: ▲2018 (187 cases) ▲2019 (164 cases) ▲2020 (117 cases) ▲2021 (125 cases) ▲2022 (151 cases), with over 100 cases occurring steadily each year.

Grilling Samgyeopsal and Fistfights... KORAIL Struggling with Troublemaker Customers

Image unrelated to the article content. [Photo by Getty Images Bank]

Inconsiderate behavior causing problems on trains is not limited to smoking. It has been found that some passengers frequently cause disturbances such as grilling samgyeopsal (pork belly) or smoking inside the train, leading to their removal.

According to KORAIL and others on the 4th, a total of 41 cases of forced disembarkation and handover to railway police due to disturbances were recorded at the Seoul High-Speed Train Crew Office by the end of last month. This is a decrease from 69 cases last year, following the lifting of the mandatory mask-wearing this year.

The most common case was boarding without purchasing a ticket and refusing ticket inspection or purchase requests, totaling 9 cases. Other incidents included ▲disorderly conduct after drinking (8 cases) ▲smoking (7 cases) ▲verbal abuse and disturbances (7 cases) ▲sexual harassment or molestation (4 cases) ▲violence (3 cases).

Specifically, in May last year, four passengers on a train from Seoul to Masan took out soju, packaged samgyeopsal, and lettuce to have a drinking party. In April this year, passengers in their 20s and 30s got into a fistfight in the aisle of a train from Daejeon to Osong. On a train from Masan to Haengsin, a drunken passenger even attempted to forcibly open the train door while it was moving.

There were also passengers who broke restroom glass windows or smoked by taking advantage of open doors at stops, verbally abusing crew members who tried to stop them. Incidents were reported where a passenger repeatedly threatened a female passenger by making hand-heart gestures and asking her to sit next to him, sexually harassed or molested crew members, and caused disturbances.

Violations of order inside trains result in handover to the Railroad Judicial Police and forced disembarkation. KORAIL and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have strengthened monitoring of disturbances by installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) on all trains from last year through this year.

Under current law, assault inside trains is subject to assault charges. However, a bill to increase the maximum sentence from the general assault maximum of 2 years imprisonment to 3 years is currently pending in the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee.