Court orders punishment canceled for bullying victim who acted in self-defense

The Incheon District Court said Wednesday it recently ruled in favor of a 16-year-old who accused the local education authorities of wrongfully punishing him for school violence even though he was only resisting a bully.

The court ordered the disciplinary action against the 16-year-old to be revoked, saying his actions did not constitute school violence.

On March 17, 2023, the then-middle school student was subject to verbal and physical assault from a classmate, inflicting injuries that required four weeks of medical treatment. In the process, the teenage plaintiff hit the other student with a phone on the neck.

Although the school initially recognized the plaintiff as a victim of school violence, the other student claimed that the plaintiff had insulted him and attacked him with a phone, while provoking him to hit him. The western branch of the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education odered community service and probation for both boys.

"(The plaintiff) hitting (the other student) with a phone is a passive action of resisting violence, and cannot be considered school violence as defined by the law ... (The other student) is larger and stronger than (the plaintiff), and was testified by other students as grabbing and picking him up," the court said in its ruling.

The court pointed out that the education authorities' basic understanding of the incident was severely flawed, saying the student who was victimized by school violence was penalized for challenging the official decision.