Joo Ye-ji, YouTube maths tutor, warned South Koreans they’d get stuck ‘welding in Australia’ if they don’t study

The star instructor’s remark towards welders during an online teaching session evoked outrage from the viewers

Joo, who bears a close resemblance to K-pop singer Chaeyoung, tendered an apology for her mistake

Reading Time:2 minutes

South Korean maths tutor Joo Ye-ji. Photo: YouTube

Published: 6:00pm, 15 Jan 2020Updated: 8:47pm, 15 Jan 2020

Joo Ye-ji is a high-profile South Korean mathematics instructor with a cult following on YouTube. However, she courted controversy earlier this week when she urged her students to “study hard or they will end up landing a welding job in Australia”.

“If your score is as low as Level 7, it would be better [for you] to go to Australia [instead of university] and get a welding job,” Joo said in one of her videos. “It’s a well-paid job.”

Joo bears a close resemblance to Chaeyoung, a member of K-pop girl band Twice, and enjoys a celeb-like status among South Korean millennials. But her comments provoked backlash from her audience, forcing the 27-year-old to switch the video into private mode. National broadcaster SBS cancelled her appearance on a radio programme.

Joo, whose classes focus on preparing students to take the college entrance exam in mathematics, apologised for her mistake, saying it was “a slip of the tongue in the heat of the moment”.

The debate over her comment dominated the country’s popular search engine Naver, with some netizens accusing her of racism and others throwing their support behind welders.

“Well sorry if the truth hurts, not everyone should go to university,” one user wrote. “Learning a skilled trade can pay far better in the long run and at the beginning of one’s work life. Welding as a trade is not bad a bad job, Master welders in some countries make 9 figure won income or over a $100,000 a year.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x