Bullying scandals cast spotlight on school violence in South Korea

Concern growing as cases expected to rise to pre-pandemic levels of some 30,000 a year

- Chang May Choon

SEOUL The director of a drama series exposing the brutality of school violence was found to have bullied fellow schoolmates in the past. A contestant in a reality TV show to find the strongest and fittest person was accused of being a bully in middle school. And a newly appointed police investigation chief resigned after it was revealed that he defended his son's bullying behaviour in school.

These are among bullying scandals that have rocked South Korea recently, as concern grew over an expected increase in school violence to pre-Covid-19 levels of some 30,000 cases a year.

The Ministry of Education revealed in February that 9,792 cases of bullying were reported to committees devoted to countermeasures against school violence in the first half of the school term in 2022. The figure was expected to double to 20,000 for the whole year.

In the latest figures, verbal abuse accounted for 42 per cent of the cases, physical bullying for 13.3 per cent, theft for 5.4 per cent, and stalking for 5.7 per cent.

This marked a huge jump from the 8,357 cases reported in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic led to school closures and lessons moving online.

In 2021, when restrictions were eased to allow students to return to their classrooms, the number surged to 15,652.

Associate Professor Jun Sunghong of Wayne State University's School of Social Work, who has studied bullying in South Korea, said the country's ultra-competitive and hierarchical system can "reinforce bullying behaviour".

"The nationwide prevalence of bullying in South Korea is estimated to be 20 per cent to 25 per cent, but... bullying tends to be underreported by students, teachers, parents and school officials, so the prevalence might actually be higher," he told The Sunday Times.