Jeju Police Say No Report Found to Support Viral ‘Taxi Passenger Wakes in Reed Field’ Story

Jeju police have challenged online reports built around a YouTube story that a passenger took a taxi late at night, fell asleep and woke up in a reed field.

A Jeju YouTuber said in a video on the 2nd that a friend’s acquaintance had been drinking, taken a taxi and fallen asleep. The person allegedly woke in a reed field, fled while the driver got out to make a phone call, and reported the incident to police.

The story was subsequently presented in several media reports as evidence of concerns among Jeju residents about public safety. But the Jeju Provincial Police Agency said on the night of the 7th that it had checked 112 emergency calls and the criminal justice information system. It found no report matching the account as reported, police said.

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After checking 112 reports and the criminal justice information system based on the reported details, we have so far found no report matching the media account.

Police also addressed two other claims from the video. One concerned a woman allegedly being threatened in a public toilet near Jeju City Hall with a phone charger around her neck. The other concerned Chinese nationals allegedly using Jeju’s visa-free system to rob a jewellery store and flee by plane.

Police said the public-toilet incident occurred in August 2016 and the jewellery-store theft occurred in May 2024. Because some articles did not give specific dates and locations, the agency said readers could mistake the incidents for a recent series, potentially increasing public anxiety.

The police said they would provide accurate information about crime-related claims spreading online so that unverified material would not be mistaken for real events.

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We will provide accurate information about crime-related content spreading online so that unverified claims are not mistaken for actual incidents.