[The Editors' Verdict]Twisted Hero

The issue of school violence (hakpok) resurfaced after a victim's post revealed that a famous sister volleyball player was a perpetrator during middle school. The two players will be unable to participate in games for a considerable period, though the exact duration is unknown. They will not receive salaries and will be stripped not only of their national team status but also of their coaching qualifications. Male volleyball players have also been identified as perpetrators and have admitted to it. Last year, a promising rookie who was selected in the first round of the professional baseball draft had his selection withdrawn by the team after past school violence was revealed.

School violence cannot be dismissed as merely a sports issue. The root cause lies in unresolved incidents from the time of the violence. While perpetrators may forget, victims carry unforgettable memories and pain that continue to affect them. The dark past hidden behind the perpetrators' success summons pain for the victims that they want to forget but cannot.

The aforementioned perpetrators of school violence are mostly born in the 1990s. The incidents occurred during their middle and high school years in the early 2000s. Those born in the 1990s belong to the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), a generation different from previous ones. This is the very generation that the National Assembly, government, and private sectors emphasize learning from. Their parents belong to the post-baby boom generation, a generation thought to be different from earlier ones. The problem of school violence began in earnest in the 1980s?40 years ago. Yet, school violence remains an ongoing issue today.

As problems arise, new measures are introduced?measures that were predictable. Before discussing laws, systems, and policies, the most important thing is to break the cycle. The perpetrators and victims of school violence are students, surrounded by teachers, schools, peers, families, and communities intertwined like a tangled thread. When school violence occurs, perpetrators should seek forgiveness and accept punishment, while victims should not hide but actively report it to prevent second and third victims. The roles of teachers, schools, education authorities, parents, and those around them are crucial. The simple truth that "if I am precious, others are precious too; if my child is precious, others' children are precious too"?just thinking about this will reduce school violence.

Personally, during my military service in the 1990s, when I became a sergeant, I reached an agreement with seniors and juniors: "Though we were beaten, let us break this bad custom and malpractice in our generation," and we put this into practice. A famous broadcaster and comedian endured the strict military discipline of the time and led efforts to abolish the military culture. Some well-known female fashion models also broke the harsher-than-military disciplinary culture in the modeling industry.

According to a past interview with a professional baseball player who led the launch of the Professional Baseball Players Association, coaches would gather players early in the morning and have the most senior player beaten, after which juniors and their juniors would continue the beatings. The player said, "Those who were beaten tried to do the same when they became seniors. Without correcting this twisted sense of compensation, no team development could be expected."

Kyung-ho Lee, Head of Social Affairs Division

In the elementary school textbook, the character Eom Seok-dae from Lee Mun-yeol’s novel Our Twisted Hero wielded absolute power in the classroom, which was partly due to his own faults but also because of the homeroom teacher’s passive attitude. When a new homeroom teacher arrived and disrupted the existing order, the previously silenced students stood up, leading to Eom Seok-dae’s downfall. The "new homeroom teacher" does not merely mean a teacher but someone who exerts a positive influence. Breaking the vicious cycle and inheritance of violence is not easy and cannot be achieved by the effort of a single individual. Rather than doing nothing or hoping someone else will act, it must start with me and my family taking the first step. ? Lee Kyung-ho, Social Affairs Chief Editor

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