“4 Years of Exploitation” Tzuyang, Bruises Everywhere in Past Mukbang Videos “Broadcast While Getting Beaten Every Day”

On her YouTube channel, Tzuyang often appears in comfortable clothing for her mukbang videos. In videos filmed up until last year, she frequently wore short sleeves, revealing bruises or bandages on her arms. This prompted many concerned comments from viewers at the time.

Many assumed the injuries were from cooking-related accidents, typical for a mukbang YouTuber. However, they were actually from assaults by her ex-boyfriend, A. Although the matter was resolved about a year ago, traces of these injuries were visible in her older videos, though recent ones show fewer signs.

Earlier this day, Tzuyang revealed through a live broadcast that she had been a victim of illegal filming and assault by her ex-boyfriend. She disclosed that she had been threatened throughout four of her five years of broadcasting.

Tzuyang explained that during a break from university before starting her mukbang channel, she briefly dated A, who began to show violent behavior shortly after they started dating. She said, “He was very kind at first, but it didn’t take long for him to become violent. When I tried to break up, many horrible things happened. It was like hell. He secretly filmed me then threatened to distribute the footage.”

A forced Tzuyang to work at a bar, threatening her with violence and telling her he would inform her family if she tried to quit. Tzuyang recalled, “I think I was beaten at least twice a day.”

She admitted, “Even after starting my broadcasts, I was beaten every day. He would avoid hitting my face because it would be noticeable, but sometimes I had to broadcast with a bruised face.”

Two years ago, Tzuyang’s staff discovered the situation and suggested she file a complaint, but Tzuyang resisted. A then came to her office, causing disturbances and threatening the staff. Tzuyang stated, “I’ve been broadcasting for five years, but for four of those years, I dealt with this every day. I’m good at pretending everything is fine.“

Tzuyang’s legal representatives released photos of her injuries and bruises and audio recordings of A verbally and physically abusing her. They disclosed that there were about 3,800 audio files and that Tzuyang was owed about 4 billion won in unpaid settlements from A.

Through video comments, her legal representatives explained, “Tzuyang suffered significant damages. Together, we pursued claims for unpaid settlements, termination of exclusive contracts, trademark disputes, and filed the first criminal complaint for habitual assault, threats, injury, extortion, coercion and violations of sexual violence laws.” Although A requested leniency and promised not to mention the matter again, he later broke that promise.

Tzuyang proceeded with a second criminal complaint, and due to the severity of the charges, a sentence of at least five years was expected. However, A reached an extreme choice, and the case was closed with a “lack of indictment” decision, ending the criminal proceedings.