"Why Live as Trash? Haha" Reporter Experiences 'Horrific School Violence' [Han Seung-gon's Incident Notebook]

'Hakppok' Victim Experience App 'Cyberbullying Vaccine' Reveals 'Wangtta' as 'Unfair and Frustrating'
Perpetrator Students Indiscriminately Invite on KakaoTalk and Use Abusive Language to the Point of Losing Control
Endless 'KakaoTalk Prison' with Repeated Invitations After Leaving Chatroom
Perpetrator Photos Exposed on SNS with Continuous Malicious Comments... Treated Below Human
Hard to Imagine the Actual Pain Suffered by Victims, Must End 'Terrible Hakppok'

The photo shows a situation of harm experienced indirectly through an app that allows users to experience `hakpok` (school violence) victimization, not an actual bullying incident. Through this app, one can understand how terribly painful the real victims are suffering. Photo by Seunggon Han, capture from the Cyberbullying Vaccine app. hsg@asiae.co.kr

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] 'Kkatok! Kkatok!', "Hey trash lol", "Your parents XX", "Still not dead lol"

Recently, as the past school violence (school bullying) facts of volleyball player twin sisters Lee Da-young and Lee Jae-young have been revealed, so-called 'school violence Me Too' cases, where police, firefighters, and ordinary people alike say "I was also victimized, I will report it," have spread widely in society. There is criticism that such school violence has become even more brutal in non-face-to-face situations amid the recent COVID-19 circumstances.

This school violence, called 'cyberbullying,' continues more secretly, cruelly, and relentlessly through social networking services (SNS) such as KakaoTalk, Twitter, and Facebook. Cyberbullying is a compound word of cyber, meaning virtual space, and bullying, meaning group ostracism. It can be said to be a cruel term created by school violence.

On the morning of the 19th, the reporter personally experienced horrific school violence using an app (Cyber Violence Vaccine) where one can experience 'cyberbullying' victimization. Mixed emotions of resentment and anger led to a decline in self-esteem. Having been directly bullied, it seems the actual pain experienced by victims is unimaginably more terrible.

Upon accessing the app, a call came immediately from a middle school student named 'Minji.' When I did not answer the incessantly ringing call, I was invited to a KakaoTalk group chat without my consent. Then, harsh profanity and continuous verbal abuse followed.

The perpetrators said things like "Hey, ssiX," "Why don't you answer right away," "You went crazy because we haven't bullied you lately," "Ah, this is so annoying ssiX," "Don't die alone, we'll kill you lol," continuing relentless group bullying without a moment to breathe.

The perpetrators then indiscriminately posted photos taken during the bullying on Facebook and started leaving mocking comments. They did not treat the person as an equal human being, saying things like "lol fresh," "Poor thing ㅠㅠ." They even forced the victim to kneel and said "Bark," continuing not only personal insults but group bullying sufficient to shatter a person's self-esteem.

As the perpetrators left insulting comments, peers who appeared unrelated to the school violence also began posting malicious comments, seemingly out of fear of the perpetrators. A small number of bullying cases escalated to involve the entire class and even friends from other schools, creating a living hell. My image kneeling and bowing my head to the perpetrators spread widely through the online cyber environment.

The victim student in virtual reality is shown kneeling in front of peers or being ostracized, eating alone in the bathroom. Photo by Han Seung-gon, captured from the Cyberbullying Vaccine app. hsg@asiae.co.kr

But it did not end there. After the brutal bullying, the perpetrators who invited me again to a KakaoTalk group chat said, "Hey, still not dead lol," "Still alive lol," effectively urging extreme choices. Beyond verbal abuse, they were shaking a person's entire life. Even while organizing materials to write this article, I was invited to group chats through the app, making it impossible to continue daily life. Although it was only a brief experience of bullying, the pain, trauma, and wounds that actual victims endure are expected to last a lifetime.

This kind of cyberbullying has become more prominent amid the COVID-19 crisis. According to the Ministry of Education's '2020 School Violence Survey (Full Survey)' conducted from September 14 to October 23 last year on all students from 4th grade elementary to 2nd grade high school across 17 metropolitan and provincial education offices, the number of victimization responses per 1,000 students were: verbal abuse 4.9 cases, group ostracism 3.8 cases, cyber violence using internet/smartphones 1.8 cases, physical violence 1.2 cases, stalking 1.0 case, extortion 0.8 cases, coercion 0.6 cases, sexual violence 0.5 cases.

Among these, group ostracism increased by 2.8 percentage points and cyber violence by 3.4 percentage points compared to the previous year. When overlapping victimization types were surveyed, verbal abuse (33.6%), group ostracism (26.0%), and cyber violence (12.3%) ranked highest.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This cyberbullying is evolving increasingly cunningly and secretly, making it difficult not only for parents but also for school officials to detect. For example, group bullying in anonymous chat rooms makes it impossible to identify perpetrators, and if perpetrators create alibis in advance to prepare for school investigations, victim investigations become even harder. Moreover, victims' fear of even more horrific bullying if they expose the abuse further silences them.

Cyberbullying methods are diverse. One method is the so-called 'item shuttle,' where victims are bullied into purchasing game items for others. According to the 'Status and Countermeasures of Korean Youth Cyberbullying' published by the Korea Youth Policy Institute in 2015, 10.2% of 4,000 middle and high school students nationwide answered that they had been bullied through cyber games. Especially, 16.2% of male students reported experiencing school violence through online games.

'Item shuttle' is an evolved form of bullying from the past method called 'bread shuttle,' where victims were forced to buy bread with their own money. Here, victims access the game item purchase environment on their phones, buy paid items, and gift them to perpetrators.

The price of paid items, which can reach tens of thousands of won, must be purchased every time new items are released, making it an inescapable prison for victims.

From a parent's perspective, since payments are made through the victim's phone, they may think their son or daughter is "just playing games without studying." For the student, it is a frustrating and unfair situation, and they feel sorry toward their parents, causing severe mental distress.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Besides item shuttle, according to the Korea Internet Self-Governance Organization (KISO), various cyberbullying methods exist, including △stealing internet service IDs to post false information, △spreading rumors via text messages, △outing someone as homosexual, △sending defamatory messages via phone, △spreading false rumors online, △extorting valuables (cyber money, items, IDs), and △filming and distributing videos.

The number of victimization cases continues to rise. According to the Ministry of Education, the number of cyberbullying reports has surged annually. From 900 cases in 2012, it increased by 182 cases to 1,082 in 2013. It further rose to 1,283 in 2014, 1,462 in 2015, and 2,122 in 2016. It more than doubled in just four years. It can be inferred that such cyberbullying may occur more in the shadows during the COVID-19 non-face-to-face situation.

Given this situation, other countries are actively responding to cyberbullying issues by granting teachers authority to resolve problems.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has created a cyberbullying site to guide students, parents, and teachers on how to cope with cyberbullying.

In the UK, cyberbullying risks and coping methods are taught during education or health classes. The public broadcaster BBC also provides videos and explanations related to cyberbullying. Teachers are given stronger authority, including the power to find and delete inappropriate images or files, including students' mobile phones, when deemed necessary during cyberbullying incidents.

Experts recommend more proactive supervision by school officials. A welfare official in charge of counseling youth said, "Students send signals in various ways that they are being bullied. Although these signals can be detected by some manual, most hide inside due to fear of retaliation and send their own distress signals," adding, "Schools and adults must truly accept these students' urgent and desperate distress calls and respond actively to establish related measures and heal the pain of the affected students."