School bullies will have a 'rap sheet' for 4 years

Social Affairs

Published: 12 Apr. 2023, 18:53 Updated: 12 Apr. 2023, 20:11

School bullies will have a 'rap sheet' for 4 years

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announces the government's comprehensive plan to eradicate school bullying on Wednesday in central Seoul in a press briefing. [YONHAP]

School bullying will affect the college admissions for the perpetrators for four years starting in 2026.

That’s double the current period of two years.

Every university will be required to score against school bullies in all of their admission decisions, though how and to what extent will be up to each university.

The measures are part of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s latest “comprehensive plan” tackling school bullying, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Wednesday.

The announcement came months after a school bullying scandal involving the son of Yoon’s designate for a high-level post made headlines in the country and led to the nominee withdrawing his name from the appointment.

Chung Sun-sin, a former prosecutor, declined to assume the office a day before his appointment as head of the National Office of Investigation in February. The position would have put him in charge of about 35,000 police personnel.

Soon after Chung was named the new chief of the office, reports about his son verbally abusing a fellow classmate in high school surfaced in the media. According to reports, the son called the victim a “commie” and a “filthy pig from Jeju Island.”

The victim was said to have attempted suicide.

Chung Sun-sin [YONHAP]

Chung came under scrutiny when it was revealed that he acted as his son’s legal representative and tried to reverse the school’s decision to transfer him to another school.

Public fury later peaked when the son was identified as a student at Seoul National University (SNU).

The son entered the school through the regular decision round, which mainly looks at scores on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), Korea’s equivalent to the SAT.

The university later said it deducted points for Chung’s son after noticing he had a school bullying record, but that his CSAT scores were nonetheless high enough to grant emission.

School bullying records are normally preserved for two years after graduation, but almost no major universities in Korea consider those records when selecting students in their regular admissions track except for SNU.

Bullying records are usually considered in the early decision round, which places more emphasis on in-class performance, extracurricular activities and other talents.

After a policy consultation meeting discussing potential adjustments last week, the government and President Yoon’s People Power Party hinted at the possibility of penalizing school bullies long enough to affect their employment.

That idea, however, was not included in the plan announced Wednesday.

School bullying cases are usually given a code number from 1 to 9 by the so-called School Violence Prevention Review Committee of each school based on numerous factors, such as the severity, consistency and frequency of the bullying and whether the perpetrator shows any remorse for their actions.

Under the latest plan, perpetrators in the 6, 7 or 8 categories will have their bullying records preserved for four years, up from two. Perpetrators in categories 6 and 7 can have their records erased before graduation under certain circumstances, such as if they apologize for their misbehavior, but those circumstances will be tougher to meet than before.

Category 9 perpetrators, as in the previous system, won’t be able to erase their records at all.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN, CHOI MIN-JI [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]