Novelist So Jae-won. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) via The Korea Herald]
Novelist So Jae-won. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse) via The Korea Herald]

Novelist So Jae-won, who had publicly wrestled with whether to forgive the student who bullied his child, said he will now seek to hold the perpetrator fully accountable.

On Monday, So posted on Instagram that he no longer intends to cling to the word "forgiveness" dressed up as a virtue born of arrogance and pride.

"I realized that to protect my children, I must take every measure available," he added.

So said his child encountered the perpetrator at school that day and saw no sign of remorse or apology. When So asked whether his child wanted an apology or wanted to hold the perpetrator accountable for the violence, the child answered: "I want proper accountability."

"It's not about pride or fear," the child said. "I couldn't protect my one and only sibling. I couldn't stop them from getting hit. That's why I can't forgive. I think that's the only way I can protect them." So wrote that he was momentarily stunned. "My hands began to tremble and I had no choice but to bow my head," he said.

So said his younger child, who was also assaulted, did not file a separate school violence report. When an investigator asked why, So said he replied that he did not want the child to go through a rigid investigation and be forced to confront what had happened. "I was afraid that if I told them it was violence, they would be deeply hurt," he said. "I didn't want to intimidate them by making them go through a stiff inquiry and forcing them to acknowledge they had been assaulted."

"Honestly, I also wanted to seek proper accountability for the violence rather than forgiveness," So said. "I just wanted to confirm, from the standpoint of morality, ethics and my position as an adult in society, whether that was truly the right thing to do."

So said he is willing to be seen as petty and childish. "Because I am an adult, I will draw on everything I have learned through experience to protect my children from being hurt any further," he wrote.

Regarding the perpetrator, So wrote that seeing the student show not even a hint of apology or remorse left him with no choice but to feel the student's parents had failed to provide adequate discipline.

Earlier, So had revealed on Sunday on Instagram that his child had been bullied at school and filed a report. He said his child and a younger sibling were unilaterally assaulted by two peers in front of him, leaving his child in a partial cast and the younger sibling unable to walk properly for several days.

He said CCTV footage and video evidence had been secured, and the perpetrators' side had admitted wrongdoing and expressed willingness to apologize — at which point So said he had been torn between forgiveness and punishment and sought advice from his followers.

So is the author of the source novel behind the film "Beastie Boys," as well as the original novels for the films "Hope" and "Tunnel."


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