"Reality of School Violence, More Horrific Than Dramas" Confession by Current Education Supervisor

Popular Netflix Drama on 'Hakppok' Topic

The Netflix original series 'The Glory,' which deals with school violence, is popular, but current education experts are stating that "the reality is even more brutal."

Choi Woo-sung, a school violence specialist supervisor at the Suwon Office of Education in Gyeonggi Province, said in an interview with MBC Radio's 'News High Kick' on the 11th, "The school violence scenes in the drama are parts that exist in reality," adding, "In short, I think it is sounding an alarm about school violence today."

Regarding the 'hot iron school violence' that shocked viewers, he said, "It reminds me of an incident that occurred at a middle school in Cheongju in the past," and added, "It seems certain that the writer of The Glory used the hot iron as an important element of violence."

Netflix original 'The Glory' is gaining popularity, increasing interest in school violence.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Supervisor Choi stated, "The School Violence Act was enacted on January 29, 2004, and came into effect on July 30, 2004. This incident occurred in 2006, where one main perpetrator was arrested, and the schools and teachers who failed to respond properly received administrative sanctions."

In addition, Supervisor Choi mentioned three other cases: ▲ the 2020 Cheonghak-dong dormitory abuse case ▲ the 2021 Yangsan middle school girls group assault case ▲ the 2022 northern Gyeonggi snow bed violence case. He added, "In all three cases, some perpetrators or those involved were juvenile offenders under 14 years old, so their punishment was limited."

Regarding the age of juvenile offenders, he expressed, "I agree that as perpetrators are becoming younger, more cunning, and more violent, the age criteria should gradually be lowered," and added, "At the same time, our society should make efforts for rehabilitation or prevention, so both approaches should be pursued simultaneously."

A juvenile offender refers to a youth aged 10 or older but under 14 who commits a crime and receives protective measures such as community service or placement in a juvenile detention center instead of criminal punishment. As controversy over the age of juvenile offenders continued, the government passed a bill at the Cabinet meeting last December to lower the upper age limit from 14 to 13 years old.

Meanwhile, the 'hot iron temperature check school violence' incident occurred in Cheongju in May 2006. At that time, a third-year middle school student, Ms. A, was assaulted for about a month by three classmates with a hot iron and clothing pins, sustaining injuries on her arms, legs, thighs, and chest.

The perpetrators demanded money from Ms. A, and if she did not comply, they subjected her to group beatings and burned her arms with the hot iron. Ms. A testified that "because the hot iron temperature was constantly checked, the wounds never had a chance to heal," and "there was even a punishment where the scabs that were healing were picked off with fingernails."

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