Verbal abuse 37.1%, group bullying 16.3%, physical violence 15.9%
91.4% of victims told parents, teachers or friends about the abuse
More than half of school violence cases in Busan involved verbal abuse and group bullying, a survey showed.
The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education released the results of the "2026 First School Violence Survey," conducted jointly with 16 metropolitan and provincial offices of education, on Wednesday. The survey was an online census carried out by the National Youth Policy Institute from April 14 to May 13. It covered all students from fourth grade in elementary school to third grade in high school. Of the 222,926 students eligible, 208,170 took part, a participation rate of 93.4 percent.
The survey found 2.9 percent of Busan students reported having experienced school violence, matching the national average of 2.9 percent. By school level, the rate stood at 2.1 percent for middle school students, 0.2 percentage points below the national average of 2.3 percent. High school students reported a rate of 0.7 percent, 0.1 percentage points below the national average of 0.8 percent. Elementary school students, however, reported a rate of 6.2 percent, 0.5 percentage points above the national average of 5.7 percent.
Verbal abuse was the most common type of school violence, accounting for 37.1 percent of cases, followed by group bullying at 16.3 percent and physical violence at 15.9 percent. Extortion accounted for 6.6 percent of cases, coercion for 6.5 percent and cyberbullying for 6.3 percent. With verbal abuse and group bullying together making up more than half of all reported cases, the survey underscored the importance of prevention efforts. These efforts should catch everyday language use and peer conflicts early and resolve them through education.
Some 91.4 percent of victimized students said they had told someone — a parent, teacher or friend — about the abuse. The Busan education office said it plans to strengthen reporting and counseling systems within schools so students can more actively speak up and seek help, and to swiftly support students who have been victimized.
Based on the survey results, the office plans to build a tighter school violence response system. It will focus on fostering a prevention culture built on participation from the broader school community. It also aims to ensure fair handling of cases and student support with victim protection as the top priority, and to strengthen relationship-recovery efforts aimed at educational resolution.
"We take this to mean that schools need to pay even closer attention to the small conflicts and difficulties students face," Superintendent Kim Seok-jun said. "We will prioritize protecting victimized students while providing thorough support across prevention, early intervention, fair case handling and relationship recovery."
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