A 12-year-old has been suffering from severe vision loss after being shot in his eye with an arrow by his classmate.

According to the North Gyeongsang Province Education Office on Tuesday, the incident happened among students of a local elementary school on a field trip in July.

The students on the trip stayed together at a youth hostel in Gyeonggi Province, where they were “playing” with a set of toy bow and arrows.

The victim was reportedly shot in his eye with one of the toy arrows, the tip of which was purposefully sharpened with a knife by his classmate. Covering his face with a pillow, the victim tried to dodge the arrows shot at him by his classmate, but one of them hit his left eye. As a result of the wound, the victim had to have his crystalline lens removed and suffered a severe vision loss.

According to JoongAng Ilbo’s report on Thursday, the victim has been raised in a single-parent household with economic difficulties, following the divorce between his Korean father and Vietnamese mother.

An official from the school said that the wounded student had never been bullied by his classmates. The school official, however, said the assailant who shot the victim with the arrow, used to display violent behaviors like throwing objects.

The 12-year-old assailant, who is deemed a minor under the Korea’s criminal law, did not receive any penalty other than being forced to transfer to another school.


(mjk625@heraldcorp.com)