As the so-called 'Yacharul' variant of school violence spreads, it has been revealed that eight out of ten offending students received only minor penalties, such as simple apologies or community service.
'Yacharul' is a slang term that refers to fights conducted without legal or criminal responsibility, where participants agree to settle disputes with bare fists.
According to Yonhap News, while 'Yacharul' appears to be a one-on-one agreement, most victims are coerced into fighting due to fears of being ostracized if they refuse, turning it into a social issue.
On October 12, Han Byeong-do, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party, revealed data from the Ministry of Education indicating that there were a total of 490 cases of new school violence reviews by the School Violence Countermeasures Committee from the 2024 academic year until the end of August this year.
A total of 684 victims and 1,232 offenders were involved in these reviews. Among the types of violence, physical violence accounted for 88.8% (multiple responses allowed), followed by verbal abuse (42.7%), coercion (28.8%), and cyberbullying (18.6%).
However, the penalties for offenders were lenient. Of the 1,961 total penalties, 77.7% (1,523 cases) were minor measures, such as written apologies (1st category), contact prohibitions (2nd category), and school service (3rd category), which do not appear on student records. Including measures like community service (4th category) and special education (5th category), the percentage of minor penalties approached 90.2%.
In contrast, only 9.8% (193 cases) involved more serious measures, such as suspension and class transfers. Among the 1,232 offending students, at least 64.4% (794 students) avoided penalties that would be recorded on their student records.
Han emphasized the need to establish detailed guidelines for reviewing various forms of participation in coercive agreements disguised as consent, such as arranging, observing, filming, and distributing these fights. He also called for the establishment of a protective system for victims and the implementation of tailored behavioral correction programs for offenders to prevent recurrences.
Meanwhile, there was a case last month in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, where a woman in her twenties was driven to participate in a 'Yacharul' fight and ultimately died, leading to arrests and charges.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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