Mandatory Public Announcement of School Violence Survey Results Within 120 Days

National Assembly Passes School Violence Prevention Act to Prevent Delayed Announcements
Moonsoo Kim: "Expecting a Virtuous Cycle of Survey, Countermeasures, and Evaluation"

Moonsoo Kim, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

From now on, it will be mandatory to publicly announce the results of school violence surveys within 120 days of the survey's completion date. With the National Assembly passing the amendment to the Act on the Prevention and Countermeasures Against School Violence (School Violence Prevention Act) on October 26, the long-standing issue of delayed announcements is expected to be resolved.

The amendment was sponsored by Moonsoo Kim, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Suncheon, Gwangyang, Gokseong, and Gurye in South Jeolla Province, and passed through the Education Committee's bill review subcommittee before final approval. The bill requires the prompt release of basic data to assess the status of school violence and to establish timely preventive measures, enabling a swift response to the needs of the education field.

According to the law, the school violence survey is conducted by the superintendents of education in all 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide. The survey has been conducted twice a year since 2012 (except during the COVID-19 period in 2020). However, under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, there have been delays in the announcement of results. The second survey in 2022 took over 270 days, and the second survey in 2023 took over 340 days, resulting in situations where results were not released before the next survey began. Many have pointed out that such prolonged delays hinder the timely establishment of preventive policies and the effective response of schools.

On October 27, Moonsoo Kim stated, "The Yoon Suk-yeol administration has also made mistakes regarding the school violence survey," adding, "This amendment passed by the National Assembly is a law that corrects delayed announcements and upholds the original intent of the survey."

He further commented, "Going forward, I expect that a virtuous cycle-consisting of survey, countermeasure development, policy effectiveness review, and reflection in the next survey-will be more firmly established in the field of education to prevent school violence."