"Beaten and Stripped"… 9-Year-Old Wandering Naked, Bullied by Classmates

Elementary Student Assaults Classmate and Strips Clothes
Perpetrator Claims "Stripped Off by Myself"
School Violence Review Committee Orders Forced Transfer Under Rule 8

A young boy walking naked on the street was captured on closed-circuit television (CCTV). Photo by MBC 'Real Story 탐사대' capture

MBC's 'True Story Exploration Team' reported on the 22nd about a school violence incident under the theme "A 9-year-old child forced naked onto the street, what is the truth of that day?" According to the report, the victim, a boy named A living in Gyeonggi-do, was diagnosed with an intellectual disability at age 7 and currently suffers from a speech disorder. On June 19, his parents received a call from the police saying, "A was reported for walking around outside without clothes."

Startled, his parents rushed to the police station, where A was found crying while wearing a yellow vest. He said he was hit by someone and had his clothes taken away. Indeed, there were scratch marks on A's face and arms. The clothes were found inside a bag placed between urinals in the building's restroom where A was discovered. A's parents said, "We did not wash the clothes to show the police," and added, "We kept them separately in the closet, but they smelled of ammonia. We thought someone had damaged the clothes to prevent him from wearing them."

The suspect was presumed to be B, a classmate of A. A claimed, "Because of B, I can't sleep well," and described him as "a friend who bullies me." CCTV footage from June 19 showed the two entering the boys' restroom of the academy together after school. About eight minutes later, A emerged naked from the restroom with B. A testified, "In the restroom, B hit my back and took off my clothes," and "He told me to leave and not to wear clothes." Naked, he wiped tears in the elevator and came down to the first floor, looking confused and unsure of what to do. A nearby cellphone store owner who witnessed this reportedly helped the child to safety.

B claimed, "I didn't take off A's clothes; he got angry and took them off himself." He also added, "A hit me first and ran away laughing." However, a staff member from a developmental center for children with disabilities who had observed A for five years refuted this, saying, "He does not have a habit of taking off clothes. He is neither violent nor sensory-sensitive," and "If he had taken off his clothes out of anger alone, he would have been in a highly agitated state, but he walked slowly, showing he was aware that being naked was inappropriate and was embarrassed."

On the 52nd day after the incident, on the 9th of this month, B's parents contacted A's side. B's father reportedly said, "The school violence review committee decided on a forced transfer," and "He will have to face punishment for this," adding, "I will ask B again. If the police investigation results in the same conclusion, we will apologize." Currently, measures against school violence consist of nine levels from 1 to 9. In compulsory education schools (elementary and middle schools), expulsion (level 9) is not possible, so level 8 transfer is the most severe punishment. Following the report, netizens reacted with comments such as "How can someone do that to a friend?" and "The perpetrator's parents should offer a sincere apology."