deadly school violence in Ch'ŏngju

And speaking of the sick culture surrounding the encouragement of suicide, another twisted antisocial phenomenon that appears to be all too common in South Korea is school bullying. 

It's been a problem for quite some time and is a regular feature in the Korean-language press. A seemingly intractable problem, since it is perpetuated by ingrained social hierarchy, which prevents some from speaking out against or about their sŏnbae ("senior"), giving a sadistic student (male or female) carte-blanche to bully their "juniors." 

Many kids don't tell their teachers, other school authority figures, or their parents, for fear of retaliation and a real sense that the adults cannot or will not do anything. When things do erupt into illegal activity, some schools have opted to cover up the situation lest the school's reputation be damaged and the school administrators lose face. 

It is against this back drop that a middle school student in the central Korean city of Ch'ŏngju [청주, Cheongju] was apparently killed in a beating by bullies. Matt of Gusts of Popular Feeling has a very good write-up on this. Matt's blog is one of my regular reads, as he is quite skillful at taking Korea-related issues and getting to the heart of the matter.