Red Velvet's Yeri is setting the record straight about a car accident that fans spent nearly a decade understanding to be minor.
In the latest vlog from the singer’s Yerimiese YouTube channel, Yeri recalled the 2016 taxi crash with her groupmate Seulgi, saying the accident left her far more damaged than the public was told.
Near the 11-minute mark in the video linked below, Yeri recalled that the two had set out on a day off during the Halloween season, taking a taxi to the Lotte World amusement park in hopes of getting photos with costumed performers. The park was packed, the rides were unrideable, and they settled for a single selfie with a zombie before heading back.
“On the way back home, the taxi got into an accident,” Yeri said in Korean, per the video’s official English translation. “I was actually quite injured … I was actually hospitalized and received treatment for a very long time. Since the accident happened while the car was turning a curve toward me, the driver and Seulgi weren't seriously injured, but I was thrown forward. I crashed right in front of her.”
She continued, “I hit her like that, and when I opened my eyes, I just thought, ‘What is this? It hurts so much.’ The white of my eye here turned completely red and burst, and my eyeball went in a bit like this. My eyeball is actually a bit sunken in here."
Seulgi, who admitted she “wasn’t seriously hurt,” said she turned to her right and saw blood coming from Yeri's mouth. She called their manager immediately, and the two later joked that they had gone to see zombies and become zombies themselves.
Yeri said she was hospitalized and stepped away from work for several months, a stretch that fell inside the promotional run for the group's Russian Roulette EP.
"When I was actually hospitalized, I was so depressed," she admitted. "It took a really long time to recover."
The account contrasts with what was reported in October 2016, when the group’s record label SM Entertainment told Korean outlets that both members suffered only bruising and minor injuries after their taxi struck a garbage truck around 10 p.m. on October 10, according to Soompi.
Yeri went on to miss group schedules including the 2016 Melon Music Awards, while Seulgi returned sooner.
Nearly ten years on, Yeri said she still sees floaters in her vision and was told nothing can be done about them. She weighed surgery and chose against it.
"I'm just living with it now," she said. The accident segment sits inside an otherwise light vlog about pottery, hobbies and the pair's friendship.
Red Velvet released their Velvet Summer EP in August 2026. Seulgi, along with fellow bandmate Irene, released a Japanese EP, Cheetah, earlier this week.
