YouTuber gets suspended jail term for ambulance theft

By Bahk Eun-ji

A YouTuber has been found guilty of stealing an ambulance to attract attention to his videos.

A local court has sentenced a YouTuber to a suspended jail term for stealing an ambulance to attract viewer. Korea Times file

The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the 36-year-old man, identified by his surname Kim, to six months in prison suspended for two years, Wednesday, for obstruction of public duty and unlawful use of a vehicle.

The court also sentenced the man to 120 hours of community service and mental therapy, and placed him on probation.

Kim got into the ambulance when it was parked, while rescue workers were dealing with a traffic accident in Songpa-gu, southeastern Seoul, in February. He then drove the vehicle for about 12 kilometers, only stopping after seven patrol cars surrounded the vehicle near Gunja Station in eastern Seoul.

Police said Kim was not drunk at the time, and initially insisted he stole the car to go to a psychiatric hospital. But he later confessed that he did it to upload a video of himself stealing the ambulance to his YouTube channel. He was indicted without physical detention.

At the time of the theft, he had already been indicted on a separate charge after assaulting a policeman who tried to stop him from lying down in a transit area of Konkuk University Station in December.

The YouTuber is famous for a video clip of him dancing on a subway train.