According to media reports, a Korean man in his 40s has been charged with assault of two teenagers who allegedly committed school violence against his son.
The accused, “A” (43), was put on trial on July 7 for assault and coercion of “B” (15) and “C” (14). “A” reportedly summoned the two teenagers to an apartment complex in Seoul and assaulted them from midnight to around 4 am on May 18 last year.
“A” slapped them more than 100 times each. He also allegedly struck them in their shins and abdomen multiple times. “A” suspected that “B” and “C” were bullying his son at school and decided to take matters into his own hands. He also bumped their heads against each other, asking them to bend their head down to the floor.
During the trial, the court pointed out that “A” is an adult who called his minor victims at night and deliberately took them to a place without CCTV surveillance to assault them for a considerable amount of time. So, they ruled him guilty of assault and coercion.
However, the court also took into account that he was drunk, and the crime could be considered accidental. So, in the end, “A” was sentenced to 10 months in prison and two years of probation.
Meanwhile, school violence incidents have plagued South Korea for a very long time. According to a study conducted in affiliation with the Department of Psychiatry at Hallym University, South Korea, around 40% of the students were found to have participated in school bullying. The most common types of victimization included isolation (23%), verbal abuse (22%), physical abuse (16%), and coercion (20%).
Recently, with the success of the Netflix series The Glory, which told the story of a school violence victim, such real-life issues have also gained more attention than before. You can read more about the issue here.
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