Schools Sentenced for Bullying

School authorities have been put on notice that they will be held financially liable for violence including bullying that takes place in schools. Even the parents of bullies will be held accountable.
Seoul Court ruled in favor of a 19 year-old student Chung, who had long suffered the abuse of his classmates, by stating that the Seoul Metro Government and the parents of the accused must pay 150 million won in compensation to the victim.
The court continued, 'Five classmates continued to beat and abuse Chung on a daily basis, that he eventually had to quit going to school. The classmates and their parents must bare the responsible for it.' Furthermore, the court continued, 'Teachers and the school's administration did not sufficiently have in place a system to protect students from this kind of abuse although they have a duty to maintain students' safety from any form of violence. Even after they heard about the bullying, they did not adequately punish the students responsible. So, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which provides school budgets must ultimately be held accountable for the incident.'
The students had bullied Chung in a variety of ways since March, 1995. Finally, they were prosecuted in February, 1996 and eventually imprisoned. Chung and his family emigrated to the U.S., saying, 'No more schools here can be attended due to the mental stress caused by the bullying.'