World · East Asia & Pacific · 4 hrs ago
Most students involved in new forms of school violence receive minor penalties
In South Korea, education officials reviewed 490 cases of new forms of school violence from the 2024 school year through August 2026.
The cases involved 684 students who were harmed and 1,232 students identified as responsible.
Physical violence was the most common type, and some cases involved so-called “Yacha rules,” fights presented as mutual agreements.
Students may feel forced to take part because they fear being excluded if they refuse.
Of 1,961 disciplinary actions, 77.7% were minor measures such as written apologies, bans on contact or school service.
Only 9.8% were more serious measures such as suspension, a class change or transfer to another school.
A lawmaker called for clearer rules to assess each student’s role, stronger protection for those harmed and tailored programs to prevent repeat behaviour.
A Korean lawmaker says 77.7% of disciplinary measures for students involved in new forms of school violence were minor.
The measures were based on 490 cases reviewed from the 2024 school year through the end of August 2026.
The cases involved 684 students identified as victims and 1,232 identified as perpetrators.
Physical violence was the most common type, appearing in 88.8% of cases, with multiple types possible.
Lawmakers called for more detailed guidance to distinguish coercion disguised as mutual agreement and for stronger victim protection.
- Who
- Students involved in new forms of school violence in South Korea.
- What
- A review found that most disciplinary measures for perpetrators were minor.
- When
- The cases were reviewed from the 2024 school year through the end of August 2026; the report was published on October 12, 2026.
- Where
- South Korea.
- Why
- Some fights presented as mutual agreements may involve victims agreeing out of fear of being excluded from a group.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Guidelines for deliberations should be divided in more detail according to forms of involvement such as arranging, watching, filming and distributing.
We should build a protection system for victimized students and apply tailored behavior-correction programs to perpetrators to prevent recurrence.
School violence deliberation committees reviewed 490 cases of new forms of school violence.
Yonhap reported the figures and Han Byung-do called for more detailed deliberation guidelines.
- Cases reviewed
- 490
- Students identified as victims
- 684
- Students identified as perpetrators
- 1,232
- Minor disciplinary measures
- 1,523 of 1,961 measures, or 77.7%
- Most common type
- Physical violence, 88.8% of cases (multiple responses allowed)
Sources
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