Korean football player Yi Young-park falls victim to alleged pickpockets in BGC

Korean football player Yi Young-park. Image: Instagram/@yiyoung_park

[Updated: July 10, 2024, 2:57 p.m.]

Korean football player Yi Young-park, who is currently in the Philippines, lost an undisclosed amount of cash after he encountered alleged pickpockets in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

The athlete narrated the incident through his Instagram page last July 4, showing a video he captured of the culprits.

“It happened in front of one Bonifacio, I was walking on the street and [six] women were surrounding me for [quite a] long time. Three people were in front of me, blocking my path to prevent me from walking quickly, and others were close behind me and then the people nearby suddenly dispersed and I noticed something strange,” he said.

“So I checked my bag immediately and it was too late. The zipper was opened; they had stolen my wallet,” he continued.

After his wallet was taken, the alleged pickpockets supposedly ran in separate groups, making it hard for him to follow them. Fortunately, Yi was able to catch up with two of them.

“I caught up with a group and asked for my wallet back. They started making loud noises, asking me if I was crazy, saying, ‘We didn’t take your wallet,’ and getting angry and overacting,” he recalled.

“It became clearer that they had stolen it. I asked the nearby guard for help to stop them because they had stolen my wallet, but the guard could not provide any help,” he lamented.

Yi persisted in chasing the individuals, which prompted the latter to “give his wallet back and [just] leave.”

After checking all the IDs and cards in my wallet, I started taking videos to leave evidence. Unfortunately, I was not able to check my cash inside of my wallet at that time, so some cash is still missing,” he said.

“I hope that you all remain alert and careful that something like this never happens again. Be safe everyone,” he added.

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In the comments section, Yi clarified that he does not blame anyone and that he still loves the Philippines despite the unfortunate incident.

“I just hope that we learned something from this incident, and [that] this will reduce the number of other victims,” he stated.

Image: Instagram/@yiyoung_park

The management of BGC addressed the incident in an official statement released on Wednesday, July 10, saying they provided immediate assistance to Yi.

“Korean national received immediate assistance from a BGC security officer during the incident; and was offered additional support to file a police report at the Police Sub-Station inside BGC, which the complainant declined,” it said.

“BGC remains vigilant in observing measures and actively cooperating with the local authorities to ensure that safety remains an utmost priority within its spaces,” it added.