A viral bus fight video has sparked outrage after the man who stepped in to stop violence was fined for assault.
In the footage posted by “Man A” on the online forum Bobaedream, a younger man “Man B” attacks an elderly passenger “Man C” on a bus. Man A steps in to break up the fight but ends up injured himself, suffering a broken nose with a three-week recovery. Man C was hospitalized with injuries requiring over six weeks of treatment.
Man A revealed he and Man C were both charged with assault by police despite being victims trying to stop the violence. Both received summary orders to pay fines of ₩1,000,000 (approx. $732 USD).
Man A wrote:
“I witnessed a man in his 20s assault an elderly man in his 80s on a bus in 2024. When the younger man started hitting the elderly man, I stepped in, and it eventually turned into a physical fight. I suffered a broken nose (3 weeks of recovery), and the elderly man was hospitalized with serious injuries (over 6 weeks of treatment).
The problem is, the police ruled that both the elderly man and I struck the attacker and charged us with assault, too. I’ve now received a summary order to pay a ₩1,000,000 fine, and the elderly man has also become a defendant. If I had stood by and done nothing, who knows how badly the elderly man might have been hurt. There are witnesses, CCTV footage, and written petitions as evidence. This is deeply unfair.
Shouldn’t the National Assembly hold the actual attacker accountable first, instead of fining someone who tried to help?”
— Man A
Netizens slammed the police for penalizing the victims instead of the attacker.
Comments include:
“This guy deserves a commendation. There’s CCTV footage—how is this assault?”
“Are they crazy? That was clearly self-defense.”
“How is that assault from both parties? It was self-defense. So we’re just supposed to stand by and watch a senior citizen get beaten up???”
“Can we please revise our country’s self-defense laws… damn.”
“He was helping an elderly man—they should be giving him an award.”
“How is this assault from the victims???? Seriously.”
“He deserves a citizen hero award, not an assault charge.”
Others called out the “mutual combat” rule and urged law reform:
“Are the police out of their minds? The ‘mutual combat’ rule seriously needs to change.”
“If that’s what the law is, we might as well not have one at all—it’s absurd.”
“Fix the law. This is exactly why people hesitate to help.”
“The attacker went after someone vulnerable. The law is absolute trash—no wonder everyone’s becoming selfish.”
The controversy is gaining traction as Koreans question how victims themselves are ending up penalized while the actual attacker faces no publicized charges yet.
