Korean YouTuber who assaulted Johnny Somali handed to prosecutors

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Korean YouTuber who assaulted Johnny Somali handed to prosecutors

Published: 28 Nov. 2024, 19:13

Johnny Somali, real name Ramsey Khalid Ismael, streams with the Japanese Rising Sun Flag displayed on his laptop on Oct. 30. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A South Korean YouTuber who assaulted Johnny Somali, a U.S. content creator known for his provocative content, was handed over to the prosecution.

YouTuber Yu Dal-geun was handed over to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office by the Seoul Songpa Police Precinct, according to legal sources on Thursday.

Yu was arrested for assaulting the content creator, whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, on a street in Songpa District, southern Seoul. The YouTuber is reportedly a former Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) soldier.

Police were dispatched to the scene after receiving reports of an incident at approximately 9:30 a.m. Ismael was treated for contusions. Ismael also has a complaint of alleged assault and drug use filed against him.

Ismael is facing backlash for performing offensive acts in public during his travels in South Korea over the past month during his YouTube live broadcasts.

Screen capture of Johnny Somali's video uploaded on Oct. 9. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

On Oct. 9, he uploaded a video of himself kissing the Statue of Peace in Itaewon, Yongsan District, central Seoul, and performing a lewd dance in front of the monument.

The statue represents the tens of thousands of young women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule over Korea. These wartime sexual slavery victims are euphemistically referred to as "comfort women."

Ismael has posted other controversial content as well, including sexually harassing women and making racist remarks to passing pedestrians. In one instance, Ismael's companion streamer, Jino, suggested performing oral sex acts on a passing woman.

Johnny Somali is seen with a Make America Great Again (MAGA) walking among shrubbery in an Instagram video uploaded on Wednesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Ismael posted a video of him crawling through shrubbery wearing a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat on his Instagram on Wednesday. The caption of the video reads “This country is corrupt, time to leave to the true Korea! They will never silence Somali-san.”

Ismael said that he was in Korea's demilitarized zone (DMZ) in the video. He also said he wants to become "the next Dennis Rodman.”

Ismael was referring to former U.S. basketball star Dennis Rodman, who developed an unlikely friendship with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, which blossomed when the retired NBA player first visited Pyongyang in 2013 and led to a friendly basketball match in the North Korean capital in 2017.

A song praising the North Korean leader was playing in the background of Ismael's video. This prompted a user of online community Bobae Dream to upload a post Thursday saying that they filed a police report against Ismael for violating the National Security Act.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]