1,141 Cases of Violence Against Student Athletes Last Year... Half Involved Elementary School Students

Ministry of Education's 2022-2024 Survey Results
Violence Against Younger Student Athletes More Severe
Inadequate Follow-Up... Only 7% of Disciplinary Actions Completed

It has been found that cases of violence against elementary, middle, and high school student athletes have been increasing every year. Notably, half of the reported cases were confirmed at elementary schools, highlighting the urgent need for fundamental countermeasures.

On September 19, Assemblywoman Baek Seunga of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, released data submitted by the Ministry of Education titled "Survey Results on Violence Against Student Athletes from 2022 to 2024." According to the data, there were a total of 1,141 reported cases of violence against student athletes last year.

The number of reported cases was 923 in 2022, 1,042 in 2023, and has continued to rise over the past three years. The number of perpetrators identified by victims also increased from 948 in 2022 to 1,247 in 2023, and 1,384 in 2024.

What stands out is that 56.7% of all reported cases occurred in elementary schools. Middle schools accounted for 34.6%, and high schools 8.7%. While violence in elementary schools has continued to increase over the past three years, cases in high schools have declined, indicating that violence is a more serious issue among younger students. Assemblywoman Baek Seunga emphasized, "The increasing proportion of cases at the elementary school level, which is the initial stage of school life, is concerning," and stressed, "There is a need for a thorough analysis of the causes and the establishment of immediate countermeasures."

In terms of gender, 78.3% of victims were male students, while 21.7% were female students. By affiliation, 59.8% belonged to schools, and 40.2% were affiliated with private organizations. Regarding perpetrators, "among students" accounted for the highest proportion at 78.2%, followed by coaches at 8.3%, and teachers at 0.9%.

The problem lies in the inadequate follow-up measures. Of the 1,384 perpetrators of violence against student athletes last year, disciplinary action was completed in only 107 cases (7.7%; with one case still under review). For the remaining 1,277 cases (92.3%), it was determined that "no action was necessary." The proportion of "no action necessary" cases has increased, with 811 cases (85.5%) in 2022 and 1,096 cases (87.9%) in 2023. According to the Ministry of Education, "no action necessary" includes cases of incorrect entries, cases where the investigation found the incident was not school violence, or cases where action was completed before the survey.

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