Reflection of School Violence Records in Regular College Admissions... Reasons Why Victims Oppose It

Reflecting Offense Records Promptly and Preserving Until Employment
"In Reality, Victims and Offenders Are Not Even Separated"
"Money, Power, and Delays... More Jeong Sun-shin Cases Will Emerge"

The government and the ruling party have decided to review measures to reflect records of school violence (hakpok) perpetrators in the regular college admission process and to preserve these records until employment. The intention is to strictly punish perpetrators to eradicate school violence.

However, there are concerns about the side effects of a system that harshly punishes perpetrators. Rather than encouraging genuine reflection and repentance from perpetrators, there is worry that it may lead to excessive lawsuits and stalling tactics aimed at avoiding acknowledgment and punishment of school violence.

On the 5th, Park Dae-chul, chairman of the People Power Party's Policy Committee, told reporters after a party-government meeting at the National Assembly, "To respond strictly to school violence, the party and government agreed on the need to extend the preservation period of serious school violence perpetrator records in school life records and to expand the reflection of these records from the current early admission to the regular admission process, thereby strengthening awareness of school violence."

He continued, "Strengthening the preservation period of student records means making the consequences of school violence affect college admissions, thereby imposing heavier responsibility." He added, "According to a public survey, many opinions suggested that school violence perpetrator records from school days should affect employment as well to raise awareness of school violence. There was also an opinion presented at the meeting that extending the preservation period until employment should be considered as a mid-to-long-term measure."

Based on this discussion, the party and government plan to hold a School Violence Countermeasures Committee chaired by the Prime Minister to finalize and announce the plan. They also intend to promote related legislation, including the 'Act on the Prevention and Countermeasures of School Violence' and the 'Administrative Appeals Act.'

However, there are voices questioning whether such a punishment-centered policy can truly eradicate school violence. Lee Ki-chul, mother of the late Park Joo-won, a victim of school violence, said that in reality, even when school violence occurs, schools do not acknowledge it properly, and separation of victims and perpetrators is not adequately enforced. She pointed out that measures to keep perpetrators' school violence records until college admission and employment are secondary issues.

In an interview with MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 6th, Lee said, "If perpetrators' records are kept for a long time, people like Jeong Soon-shin will become more rampant. To avoid having records, perpetrators' parents with money, power, and influence mobilize all resources to stall time, resulting in even more Jeong Soon-shins."

Attorney Jeong was appointed head of the National Investigation Headquarters but was dismissed after his son's school violence controversy surfaced. When his son was transferred as a perpetrator of school violence in high school, he filed an administrative lawsuit against the decision and took the case to the Supreme Court. His son was able to attend school for an additional year and was admitted to Seoul National University through the regular admission process after graduation.

Lee criticized, "In reality, school violence committees are often not convened. Measures without victim recovery are meaningless. They only present superficial alternatives."

Attorney Noh Yoon-ho, a specialist in school violence, also said, "Rather than focusing on imposing disadvantages on perpetrators after the fact, measures should be centered on how to protect victims immediately after incidents occur. School violence can be resolved if reported, and an atmosphere where adults can help must be created."

Attorney Noh also emphasized the need to strengthen teachers' authority. He said, "Since teachers have no discretion before cases go to the school violence committee, they can only respond passively. Complaints such as 'Are you treating my child as a perpetrator?' and 'This infringes on learning rights' flood in from perpetrators' parents. Teachers should be granted broad discretion regarding school violence and at least be free from complaints related to school violence."

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