[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Sang-hyun] An incident occurred at a high school in Changwon, Gyeongnam, where two students fought during class while the teacher was away, resulting in one student sustaining serious head injuries requiring emergency surgery.
According to the Gyeongnam Provincial Office of Education on the 8th, on June 30th, students A and B, who usually did not get along well, fought in the classroom. During the altercation, student A kicked student B in the head.
Student B visited the hospital early morning on July 1st, complaining of head pain, and underwent emergency surgery, which brought the incident to the school's attention. Student B was diagnosed with an eight-week recovery period.
It is known that the homeroom teacher was briefly absent from the classroom due to other duties at the time of the fight.
Regarding this, the school stated, "It seems the teacher left the students to watch a video and stepped out." The teacher, who was a contract teacher, had their contract terminated due to responsibility for the incident.
The Changwon Office of Education, responsible for the school, held a School Violence Countermeasure Committee meeting on September 16th and concluded that both students were responsible, noting that student B had also acted in a threatening manner toward student A prior to the fight.
There was no objection to the committee's decision, but student B’s parents filed a criminal complaint with the police against student A for serious injury, citing the severity of the harm.
Student A’s parents counter-sued for special assault, claiming that student B was the cause of the incident, and the conflict between the students’ parents is reportedly ongoing.
It was later revealed that classmates recorded the fight on their cell phones and distributed the footage, prompting the school to take follow-up measures.
In the video, the students were seen laughing while watching the fight, and instead of stopping it, they even moved desks and chairs to create space for the fight, showing a heartless attitude.
The school regards the actions of the students who filmed the video and those nearby as school violence and has requested the education authorities to hold a school violence committee meeting.
It has been confirmed that student B’s parents recently filed a police complaint against the students who filmed the video and those nearby for charges including video distribution and neglecting serious injury.
A Gyeongnam Provincial Office of Education official said, "Not intervening and just watching while friends fight shows a serious insensitivity to school violence," and added, "We plan to strengthen education on school violence."
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