Middle School Sexual Assault Death... Principal Suspended, Perpetrator Transferred

Jeonnam Office of Education Installs CCTV and Safety Belts in Dormitory Hallways

Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education announced on the 17th that it has launched an investigation into the sudden death of a male middle school student, A, who reported being sexually assaulted in a school dormitory.
The photo shows Jang Seok-woong, Superintendent of Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education, meeting with the bereaved family of the middle school student who was a victim of sexual assault.

Regarding the case of a middle school student who was sexually assaulted in the school dormitory and suddenly passed away, the principal of the student's school received a suspension, and the perpetrator was transferred to another school.

On the 15th, Park Baek-beom, Deputy Minister of Education, responded to a public petition titled "Went to heaven after suffering due to sexual violence in school and inadequate response by the school and higher authorities" on the Blue House website, announcing these measures.

A, a student attending a middle school in Yeonggwang, Jeollanam-do, died of acute pancreatitis on the 3rd of last month. A’s parents appealed for a thorough investigation and countermeasures, stating that their son's death was related to sexual assault by friends in the school dormitory. They posted their grievance on the Blue House public petition board on the 15th of last month, and the petition received 252,624 signatures over a month.

After the incident became known, the Jeollanam-do Office of Education formed a task force consisting of external experts and education officials to conduct an investigation.

Deputy Minister Park stated, "The investigation conducted until July 28 confirmed that the school did not actively take measures to separate the perpetrator as requested by the victim student’s side and that the dormitory management was inadequate."

Accordingly, the task force requested disciplinary action from the school foundation, and on the 25th of last month, the principal was suspended for three months, the vice principal received a one-month pay cut, and the teacher responsible for school violence was reprimanded.

Based on the investigation results, the Yeonggwang Education Support Office held a School Violence Countermeasure Committee meeting and decided to transfer one perpetrator student. The other three will be dealt with following the investigation results from the Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency.

The Yeonggwang Education Support Office was also reprimanded for its passive response.

Deputy Minister Park said, "We are preparing measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring," and added, "Starting in September, the Jeonnam Office of Education will recommend installing corridor CCTV and safety bells throughout all middle and high schools with dormitories."

He also stated, "To raise students’ gender sensitivity and establish healthy sexual values, sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention education will be conducted in schools in cooperation with local community experts, and regular themed sex education will be held in connection with families."

Furthermore, he added, "The Ministry of Education will strengthen training for current teachers to actively respond to school violence, including sexual violence, and from next year, prospective teachers will be required to complete gender sensitivity education such as sexual harassment and sexual violence prevention training."

Additionally, in September, the "School Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Response Manual" will be revised and distributed to educational sites, and to enhance the quality of sexual violence prevention education, case-based teaching materials and various prevention education contents will be continuously developed and provided to schools.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.