High school student who committed ‘cyber school violence’ for breaking a promise… Disciplinary action taken by the School Violence Committee

Conflict with middle school classmate... cyberbullying by inviting to group chat room
Lawyer for the victim: “Indiscriminate verbal violence beyond the level of a fight between friends is unacceptable.”

A high school student who led a group cyberbullying to retaliate against a friend who broke a promise was punished by the School Violence Response Committee (School Violence Committee).

In December 2024, the School Violence Committee decided to impose a ban on student A, who is accused of bullying a friend who was attending another school, from contacting, threatening or retaliating against the victim and the reporting/accusing student (No. 2), 6 hours of school volunteer work (No. 3), and 6 hours of special education (No. 5). It was confirmed that the guardian was also ordered to complete 4 hours of special education.

In September 2024, Ms. A was accused of cyberbullying (online harassment) by opening a group chat room on SNS because the victim, Ms. B, did not keep her promise to meet with her.

School violence includes not only physical and verbal violence against students inside and outside of school, but also cyberbullying such as bullying and emotional harassment through SNS.

At the time, it was found that Ms. B suffered group verbal abuse from a number of students whom she had never met in person. It was revealed that Ms. A and other perpetrators humiliated and sexually shamed Ms. B by making disparaging remarks and sexual profanity toward her family.

In particular, Ms. B apologized several times for breaking her promise, but Ms. A and her group did not stop their collective harassment. In the end, the incident became known belatedly when Ms. B, who could not endure the bullying, told her parents about this.

Ms. B’s legal representative, who accompanied the School Violence Committee, said, “The violence Ms. B suffered was at a level that could not be dismissed as simply a fight between friends,” and emphasized, “The fact that many people used indiscriminate verbal violence against Ms. B is a crime that should never be tolerated.”

The Daejeon Metropolitan City Western Office of Education's School Violence Committee accepted this claim and decided to take disciplinary action against Ms. A, who led the school violence.

Kim Jin-ju, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm who served as legal representative for B, a victim of school violence, explained, “Most students these days have electronic devices such as cell phones, so cyber school violence is occurring frequently,” and “The level of crimes such as online bullying, blackmail, coercion, and sexual violence is also increasing.”

Attorney Kim Jin-joo continued, “Due to the nature of cyber school violence that occurs online, anonymous communication often occurs, so it is most important to secure a screenshot containing the details of the damage,” and added, “If you receive a 4th or higher disciplinary action from the School Violence Committee, a record will remain in your life record, and it will remain for a certain period of time even after graduation, which may affect college entrance exams.”

handReporter Dong-wook (twson@lawleader.co.kr)

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High school student who committed 'cyber school violence' for breaking a promise... Disciplinary action taken by the School Violence Committee (Shortcut)