[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Ju Cheol-in] There are criticisms that the initial response by the police and the Gyeongnam Provincial Office of Education was inadequate regarding the group assault on a foreign-national middle school girl that occurred in Yangsan, Gyeongnam.
The Provincial Office of Education belatedly recognized the incident and held a school violence review committee, but the measures taken against the perpetrators?such as 8 hours of community service?have been criticized as lenient punishments.
According to the Gyeongnam Police Agency on the 2nd, around midnight on July 3rd, a foreign-national middle school girl was subjected to a group assault by four peers at an unspecified location in Yangsan, Gyeongnam.
The perpetrators tied the victim’s hands and legs while she was in her underwear, slapped her, and assaulted her for about 2 to 3 hours, recording the assault on a mobile phone video. It is reported that the victim was assaulted while staying with the perpetrators, who were acquaintances, after running away from home.
There is an opinion that if the police had paid more attention and responded promptly at the initial stage, the harm could have been prevented. The first report was made on July 1st, when a report was received that runaway students were living at an unspecified location in Yangsan.
At that time, the victim and the landlord’s daughter were present, but since no runaway report had been filed for the victim, the police conducted a brief check and then left.
On the following day, July 2nd, around 6:30 p.m., the victim’s aunt filed a runaway report with the police and entered the crime scene herself. At that time, the victim was hiding next to the veranda washing machine to avoid being caught by her aunt.
The aunt, unable to find the victim, scolded the perpetrators present there, and when they cursed, she became agitated and slapped them, leading the perpetrators to file an assault report against the aunt with the police.
The police who arrived at the scene searched the main room and bathroom but failed to check the veranda, so they could not find the victim hiding next to the washing machine.
The police stated that since it was a simple missing person report, they did not have the authority to conduct a forced investigation such as obtaining a warrant, which limited their ability to thoroughly inspect the scene.
At around 10:10 p.m. on the same day, a request was made by the aunt to track the victim’s location, but since the victim’s phone was turned off, the location was detected at a base station 10 km away from the incident site, so they could not find her.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed that the victim was drinking alcohol with the perpetrators and that the full-scale assault began around midnight. However, whether the victim was forced to drink alcohol requires further investigation due to conflicting statements from both sides.
The perpetrators reportedly committed the crime due to resentment over the victim’s usual misbehavior and because the victim’s aunt had slapped her, which intensified their emotions. They also threatened to demand a settlement of 15 million won from the aunt, who had slapped the victim, if the victim disclosed the incident externally.
The day after the incident, on the 4th, the victim submitted a petition to a nearby police substation, but the investigation was conducted only on August 13th, about a month later.
The police explained that although they repeatedly requested the victim to appear for testimony, she did not come, and since they could not forcibly summon her, the process was delayed.
The school violence review committee was held a week later, on August 20th. The school recognized the issue on July 12th, when the victim returned to school, and reported it to the Provincial Office of Education and the Yangsan Education Support Office two days later on the 14th.
After understanding the incident, the school judged it was not a matter to be resolved internally and requested a school violence review committee from the Yangsan Education Support Office. At the committee, the Yangsan Education Support Office imposed disciplinary actions on the perpetrators, including prohibition of contact and retaliation, 8 hours of community service, 6 hours of special education for students, and 5 hours of special education for guardians.
At the time of the committee, the existence of the assault video was not revealed, so no related disciplinary actions were taken. Since the victim did not attend the committee, specific details of the victimization were not reflected.
According to the police, the victim was psychologically intimidated due to threats from the perpetrators.
It is known that the victim did not provide an official explanation to the Provincial Office of Education regarding her refusal to testify and absence from the committee. Moreover, for a month until the prohibition of contact and retaliation was imposed at the committee, the victim was in a state where she could have contact with the perpetrators.
Regarding this, the Provincial Office of Education explained that since the victim and perpetrators attended different schools, no prior separation measures were taken.
The Gyeongnam Provincial Office of Education plans to take follow-up measures such as requesting multicultural understanding education at schools, supporting relationship recovery teams, managing through counseling for multicultural students, and operating alternative programs to improve school life adaptability.
The police have sent two middle school students to the prosecution on charges of joint assault under the Act on the Punishment of Violent Crimes. The other two, being juvenile offenders (criminal minors aged 10 or older but under 14), were referred to the Ulsan District Court Juvenile Division.
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