Lee Jaecheon (26), who runs a Youtube channel with 610,000 subscribers, received a message from a fan on February 28, saying, "I'm in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). I want to escape quickly." At the time, tensions in the Middle East had sharply escalated due to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran and Iran's retaliatory actions. While it was technically possible to leave the UAE by land and travel to Oman, the fan who is a woman in her 20s felt extreme anxiety about crossing the border alone.
Judging that it will be safer to escape if people gathered as a group, Lee Jaecheon created a KakaoTalk open chatroom called 'UAE Escape Room' that same day and began gathering people who wished to leave overnight. At the same time, he contacted a local travel agency. He was able to quickly arrange a reliable escape route together with a staff member who had experience living in the UAE and using the network he built while running his Youtube channel, which mainly delivers updates on wars.
The help from travel agencies providing guides locally in the Middle East was also significant. Lee Jaecheon said, "After that one fan escaped safely, word spread through Korean associations, and more people started contacting me for help. We secured cars through a travel agency. At first, we used private cars, but as more people joined, we even used chartered buses."
Not everything went smoothly. Heo Sangjun (60), the CEO of Carrot Tour, who worked together with Lee Jaecheon to provide taxis and buses said, "In the process of transfering people to Oman and Saudi Arabia, demand for vehicles and drivers exploded, causing prices to skyrocket. Some drivers we had already booked even left for higher offers." Lee Jaecheon added, "Taxi fares that were around 1.5 million KRW shot up to 2 million KRW in just a few days. We barely managed gathering people to split the costs."
Just when he thought the urgent situation was under control, new problems arose as the number of people wanting to escape increased. There were cases where some people reached the Oman border, but had to wait for three hours because the taxi they called didn't show up. The staff at the border checkpoint sometimes demanded money, which they had no choice but pay. Some people lost contact after reaching Oman because they couldn't get SIM cards. There were also rumors that some people who escaped via other routes were abandoned in the desert after arguing with their driver.
In response, Lee Jaecheon decided to use buses to transport people more safely. He succeeded in evacuating 53 people over 18 separate trips. He said, "Those who escaped first would give advice to the next group on how to pass border checkpoints."
Although it started with good intentions, there were many challenges. One of the hardest was misunderstandings that he was being paid by the travel agency. Lee Jaecheon explained, "I only connected people who wanted to escape directly with travel agencies of taxi companies. I never received any money. There were many suspicions about the videos I posted on Youtube, but I explained everything and clarified them one by one. I believe that the fact I did the right thing is more important."
Now that the government has stepped in by arranging chartered flights and sending a response team , Lee Jaecheon has temporarily stopped helping with escapes to avoid creating confusion. However, he has not lost interest and continues to monitor the situation, as there are still Koreans in the Middle East who wish to escape. Lee Jaecheon stated, "We are still sharing information in the group chats. The whole team is exhausted from not sleeping for days, but it's rewarding to be able to help people evacuate safely."
