The parents of a middle school student who died after claiming to be a victim posted an appeal on the Blue House National Petition website. Screenshot from the Blue House website.
[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Jun-kyung] The parents of a middle school student who died after claiming to have been sexually assaulted in a school dormitory posted a plea on the Blue House National Petition Board asking to clear their son's name.
On the Blue House National Petition Board, a post titled "Went to the afterlife after suffering due to sexual violence in school and inadequate response from the school and higher authorities" was uploaded on the 15th. As of 8 a.m. on the 16th, the petition had received 16,838 signatures.
The petition states, "This is an incident concerning sexual violence that occurred at a middle school in Jeonnam," and "The school did not follow the sexual violence manual and downplayed the incident, reporting it to the responsible police station and the education support office. Due to inaccurate responses from higher authorities during the process, our son, as a victim of sexual violence, could not overcome his pain and passed away."
The petitioner claimed, "Three friends in the dormitory forced our son, A, to engage in sexual violence and masturbation, and when he refused, they verbally abused him, even mentioning his parents," adding, "He informed his homeroom teacher on the 19th of last month and strongly requested the school to separate them, but nothing was done."
They continued, "On the 29th of last month, the moment our son heard that one of the perpetrator students was coming to school, he suffered severe breathing anxiety and could not sleep. The next day around 11 a.m., he was admitted to the hospital emergency room due to chest pain and breathing difficulties, diagnosed with acute pancreatitis along with stress, transferred to a higher-level hospital, and after three days of treatment in the intensive care unit, he passed away there," they asserted.
Concluding the post, the petitioner said, "No matter how painful it is, there is a saying that living is better than dying, and our son wanted to live," criticizing the school and higher authorities for their negligent and complacent handling and management.
The school held a review committee on the 22nd of last month and imposed Measure No. 2 under the School Violence Prevention Act (prohibition of contact, threats, and retaliation against victims and reporters) on the perpetrator students.
Believing that the perpetrator and victim students should not attend the same school, A’s parents strongly demanded Measure No. 6 (suspension of attendance), but the school instead added Measure No. 5 under the School Violence Prevention Act (special education or psychological treatment by experts inside or outside the school).
The Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency and Jeonnam Office of Education are investigating the perpetrator student's sexual harassment and its connection to A’s death based on statements given before A’s passing.
The post on the Blue House National Petition Board has exceeded 100 preliminary consents and is currently under confidential review by the petition administrators.
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