Smoking, Choking, and Sexual Harassment... Daytime Commercial Area 'School Violence Video' Controversy

A video showing several students assaulting a male student in front of a building parking lot in Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Social Networking Service (SNS)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] A video showing a group of students assaulting a male student in a parking lot of a commercial building in Ilsan, Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province has spread online, sparking controversy. The victim student reportedly told the police during the investigation that it was "just playing around with friends," but the police stated they will conduct further investigations to ascertain the exact circumstances.

On the 13th, a video was posted in an open chat room on social networking service (SNS) showing five middle school students?three male and two female?appearing to collectively bully a male student by strangling his neck.

In the video, the victim is being choked by a male student who is physically larger than him. Additionally, a female student who appears to be smoking is seen touching the victim student's genitals.

Other students watched the scene with their hands behind their backs, and no one intervened to stop the bullying. After the hands strangling the neck were released, the victim collapsed to the ground, and the video ended. The video seems to have been recorded by a bystander observing the situation from across the street.

According to the Ilsan Dongbu Police Station, which has jurisdiction over the area, a police officer at the local police substation responded around 4:50 p.m. that day after receiving a report from the video recorder and met with the students to understand the situation. However, during the investigation, the victim student stated it was "just playing around," and the victim's parents also expressed no intention to press charges, so the case was not transferred to the investigative department.

However, citizens who saw the video expressed concern, suspecting school violence. Netizens raised their voices demanding a thorough investigation, saying, "The victim might have lied about it being a joke out of fear of retaliation," and "It does not look like a joke at all."

Regarding this, a representative from the Women and Youth Division of the Ilsan Dongbu Police Station told Asia Economy on the 14th, "It is true that the victim student said it was 'just playing around' at the time, but the victim's parents said they would confirm and report the matter later," adding, "We plan to conduct additional investigations going forward."

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