This photo shows a high school classroom in the eastern Seoul ward of Seongdong on May 11, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 13 (Korea Bizwire) — After the bullying accusations against South Korea’s twin volleyball stars Lee Jae-yeong and Lee Da-yeong gained media attention, the so-called ‘school violence me-too’ phenomenon is spreading even to the entertainment industry.
The twin sisters are accused of having bullied fellow students when they were in school.
School violence issues, including the suicide of victim students, are emerging as a serious social problem.
Against this backdrop, a growing number of victims and their families are attempting to solve the school violence problems by using so-called ‘samchon package’ service companies, saying that they cannot trust the educational authorities and the police.
Once hired by the families of victim students, these companies send muscular employees to intimidate the bullying students.
To prevent them from bullying the victims any more, the companies also threaten to spread their personal information through social media.
They also take photos of violent scenes to collect evidence for court trials or receive money from the victim families in return for causing a stink at the companies where the parents of the bullying students work.
This undated photo shows middle school students return home. (Yonhap)
According to a media report, the price of the ‘school violence fixer’ service varies ranging from about 3 million won (US$2,640) for two days or 5 million won for three days.
The service offers staff who accompany the victims when they commute to and from school or make an ambush patrol to protect them.
The prosperity of such businesses, which rely on school violence victims as clients, indicates that the victims and their families are not satisfied with the sanctions and solutions offered by related authorities.
The parents of the victims insist that the popularity of these types of personal sanctions reflect the practices of the schools which focus on whitewashing the violent incidents.
In general, when the parents of victim students ask for help, schools attempt to solve the issues through their own sanction mechanisms, typically a school’s violence autonomy committee, instead of reporting the incidents to the police.
Instead of being held instantly after the incidents occur, the school violence autonomy committees, in general, are held about 15 days later since it takes time to arrange the schedule for the participants, including teachers, lawyers, and chairman of the parent board.
Taking these situations into consideration, the parents of victims are more confident in the effectiveness of personal sanctions rather than relying on autonomous school discipline or legal measures like formal accusations filed with the police.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
