Bullying scene from 'The Glory' similar to real case in Cheongju

A bullying scene from ″The Glory″ [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A violent bullying scene from a recent episode of Netflix’s “The Glory” is gathering attention for being reminiscent of a real bullying case that occurred in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, back in 2006.

The scene, in which the bully repeatedly tortures the protagonist Moon Dong-eun, played by actor Song Hye-kyo, with a hot hair iron, was part of a real bullying case in Korea. In the TV series, the bully burns Moon with the hair iron whenever Moon resists her demand or reports her to the school for school violence.

“There was a similar case at a middle school here in Cheongju,” one post read on an online forum. “The school uniform in the TV series and the actual school uniform look so similar.”

In a middle school in Cheongju in May 2006, a middle school girl was assaulted by her classmates with a hot hair iron, hair pins and books.

“I have been assaulted by my friends for a month,” the student told local media outlet Newsis, which had first reported the case in 2006.

“What they did to me was torture.”

According to Newsis, the student had severe burns on her body and had to be hospitalized for five to six weeks. Her tailbone was also dislocated.

One classmate was arrested after a prompt police investigation. The school and teachers were given administrative penalties for not dealing with the case appropriately.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, KIM JI-HYE [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]