‘Pay with your body’: Cab driver makes durbing offer to Thai tour during ride, sparks outrage | Trending

A South Korean taxi driver has come under intense criticism after a Thai tour posted a video of him making sexually inappropriate remarks during her ride to Seoul Station, according to a report the South China Morning Post (SCMP). A Thai visitor exposed a South Korean driver’s sexual harassment online.(Representational image/Unsplash) Inappropriate questions and alarming suggestionsThe tour, who has not been publicly identified, posted the clip on 19 June. It shows the driver using a translation app to converse with her, during which he posed several intrusive questions, such as whether she had a boyfriend and why she was unmarried. (Also read: Noida man dies in cab accident, family claims Uber driver fell asleep at wheel) The situation escalated when the driver suggested he could help her find a job, saying, “It is not hard. You just need to clean rooms.” Upon learning she was heading to Busan, he offered to drive her there himself. Durbingly, he added: “If you do not have money for the fare, you can pay with your body.” The woman described feeling frightened, especially when the driver stopped the car mid-ride to continue speaking to her. Although he eventually dropped her at Seoul Station, he gave her his phone number and asked when she would return. Social media backlash and public apologySharing her experience, the tour warned others about taking taxis in South Korea and revealed that she had used the same ride-hailing app to file a report against the driver. Her video has since garnered over 660,000 likes and more than 400 comments, according to SCMP. Commenters from both Thailand and South Korea condemned the driver’s behaviour. One South Korean user wrote, “I am sorry that such a horrible thing happened to you.” Another added, “You should report the incident to the police. This is sexual harassment. If this type of person is left unpunished, they will do the same to others in future.” (Also read: Hyderabad cab driver caught playing PUBG while driving: ‘Pure recklessness on display’) A third remarked, “We should punish this driver severely for sexual harassment or at least make his personal information public.” Legal gaps raise concernAccording to SCMP, in South Korea, verbal sexual harassment is not classified as a criminal offence unless it involves physical contact in a public setting. Critics have pointed out that such legal loopholes allow inappropriate behaviour like this to go unchecked and unpunished.