School violence in Gangnam schools being kept hush hush

Article: Why does no one need to know about the school violence in Gangnam schools?

Source: Kyunghyang News via Naver

Article goes into the psychological bullying that schools in the upper scale neighborhoods of Gangnam are  keeping hush hush about for the sake of the image of these prestigious schools.

One female high schooler named Sehee actually commit suicide from such bullying, but when police investigations were brought in, they determined that there wasn't enough evidence to prove she was bullied into death. This brings light to a deeper issue where 'school violence' is no longer being committed through physical fights but through psychological torments.

The truth was revealed in an exchange between Sehee and her friend right before her death.

Sehee: "I'm at the rooftop now. Will I die if I fall from here?"
Friend: "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
Sehee: "Just consider me someone who never existed. I don't have what it takes to continue moving forward. I'm sorry. I haven't been a good friend. Thanks for everything, I love you."
Friend: "Where are you? Sehee-ya, Park Sehee!"

Sehee's troubles started when she got into a minor fight with a friend. She then began seeing Facebook messages ambiguously targeting her and Kakao Talk messages from alleged seniors swearing at her, telling her to die, and making up rumors accusing her of being a kkot-baem and stealing the boyfriends of her own friends. She was then ostracized at school and was forced to spend her days alone.

Despite her mother's attempts to involve the school, the school blamed it on Sehee's low self esteem and said they couldn't do anything more. Sehee transferred to a smaller school of 50 or so students in the countryside and did well until she then had to move on to high school where the bullying began again.

She came home from school one night and confessed that her classmates were bullying her again, yelling at her if she tried to act friendly. Sehee then declared one night that she was going to drop out of school. That same night, she went up to the rooftop and commit suicide.

When the parents demanded the school to take responsibility, the school said that Sehee was merely upset at her classmates, causing her mother to retort, "Would a person end their own life over merely feeling 'upset'?..."

The school kept Sehee's death a secret in fear of the shock the student body would have to endure. They "checked" on who she hung out with at school and figured that she just wasn't able to fit in.

Police also concluded their investigations with there being "no assailant, no victim" in her death. They had surveyed her classmates and no one had confessed to her bullying. One on one meetings between the teachers and students were also had, but results were the same. A few of her junior high school classmates were charged for writing hateful things about her on SNS.

Police said, "It's important to check whether there was physical violence," to which the mother revealed, "Kids in Gangnam don't use violence anymore. Gangnam hasn't used violence in a long time. Kids rather mentally torment you, slowly."

"I've lived for over 20 years in Gangnam and I've barely seen articles about school violence. Of course, there are a lot of talks about how a kid dropped to his death at the Eunma Apartment or at the Tower Palace... but rumors like that make the neighborhood look bad so I figured people were staying quiet. I've always seen people make the victim out to be some pathetic misfit, or a kid from a poor household. This has all been building up inside of me, how could I keep it all in me now when I'm so regretful of my own child's pain? I need to fight. Her death won't be the last of it.... This reality is so frustrating. No one takes responsibility for anything. The school, the police, everyone just says they don't know. There's no hope. No hope..."

Unfortunately, it wasn't until after Sehee's death that her classmates began sending her phone messages. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I knew everything. I knew what had happened at your previous school. I should've taken care of you. I'm so sorry. It's too late to say sorry now but I hope you accept it now. Don't hurt in heaven, don't be sad. I'll pray for you. I couldn't tell your mother the truth. I hope you'll be by her side. I don't have the right to. I couldn't tell her to find strength, to stop crying. Sehee-ya, be happy and live comfortably. See you in heaven."
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1. [+3,868, -63] Something this tragic happened and the school ignores it and brushes it under the rug... who can people depend on then? One word has the power of an explosive... it can end a life just like that.

2. [+3,535, -119] I bet this article will be erased soon too... Gangnam isn't the Gangnam it used to be. It's just another average city with 600,000 people. Living in Gangnam doesn't make you superior anymore...

3. [+3,236, -41] Students should be forced to pay the consequence for their crimes

4. [+2,692, -39] I don't think school violence can ever be justified. Parents and teachers who are blindly protecting their kids without consideration for the pain of other students are what makes school violence grow.

5. [+2,242, -168] "Omo! My kid would never hit anyone!"

6. [+535, -9] So the b*tch who started it all is the one who posted on SNS in junior high. Her words killed Sehee... I wonder if she's enjoying life right now? I bet her identity will soon be revealed~ good riddance

7. [+530, -14] My school had a sophomore student commit suicide on September 13th by jumping from his apartment but there were no news articles about it. The teachers all kept it hush hush. The seniors were more worried about our school's image being tarnished and being rejected from colleges because of it;;; this is the reality of Korea.

8. [+508, -13] My heart broke the entire time reading this. How painful it must've been for her. School culture needs to change. Bullied kids need to be protected. Schools need to show bullies just how terrible what they're doing is by going hard on punishments. Unfortunately, reality is that if you report something like this, schools will brush it off until the victim transfers schools. Sehee-ya, be happy in heaven. Don't be in pain anymore, just be happy...

9. [+487, -25] But she was doing better at a school in the countryside... did they have to force her to go back to a high school in Gangnam? Even when she hated it?

10. [+420, -24] The parents are frustrating... why did they make her go to that school when they knew that everyone in that neighborhood would be going there? They could've sent her to another school...

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