[TW] Updates on the Busan Teen Girl Attack

[pearlychoco.livejournal.com]

PSA: Out of respect for the victim, her family, and those triggered by graphic and distrubing images, I will not be posting any of the photos onto this post.

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On June 29, the bullies dragged her to a karaoke room and hit her until she had injuries that took 2 weeks to heal.

The victim of the horrific bullying incident revealed that she had been attacked by a different group previously. Then, the bullies dragged her to another hidden location to beat her for another hour, and invited male students to touch her inappropriately. The Victim (op's note: I'll be calling her A for the remainder of this post) tells TV Chosun “They touched my body and slapped me in the face, they made me get on my knees, and touched me above my stomach on [my breasts]…”. A had also been sexually harassed by the bullies during the night of the originally reported attack. She said she’ll call a guy here and told me to have sex with him in front of everyone, then they’ll let me go.”

According to one of the victim’s friends, one of the attackers even made the following comment: "When she hit her [A], she would say that she liked the smell of blood and hit her even more…”

Currently, three attackers involved in the karaoke attack have been booked without detention, making it a total of 7 attackers.

The victim of the Busan bullying attack is currently in hospital recovering from her injuries but is suffering from severe trauma.

JTBC News recently visited her at the hospital for an interview, where she revealed she is scared of people. “When I see people, I think it’s those bullies, and during the night, I’ll wake up a lot of times because my head hurts." The Victim (op's note: I'm going to call her A for the remainder of this post) said while in the hospital bed. When A was asked if she would ever forgive her attackers, she said she didn’t want to. “They’ve sexually harassed me too, and if I forgive them, I think they’ll do it again so I don’t really want to.”

A's mother also revealed that the parents of the attackers never called after the attack, even after discovering their daughters were involved. She revealed that she’d sent them photos of her beaten up and bloody daughter, yet nobody replied. It was only after the attack went viral online that one parent contacted A’s family to apologize.

A’s mother reiterated that the attackers will never be forgiven, no matter what the circumstance. “I’m so angry. No matter what they say, I will never forgive them.”

Earlier this last week, news of seven* middle school girls brutally beating up another classmate shocked the entire nation. Many Koreans were horrified by what the attackers did to their victim, and saw the need to abolish the Juvenile Law that protected them from being criminally charged.

As police investigations on the case continued, the father of Jeong Yu Mi, one of the main girls responsible for the horrific attack, finally decided to speak up. He revealed that it took a lot of courage, as he had spent the past few days trying to calm down.

"It's a tough time for me but I’m mustering up the courage to speak. After calming my heart down yesterday, I saw the video of the attack and saw that it was more violent than an adult crime, so my heart is still trembling and my legs are weak," Jeong's father says.

The incident resulted in their whole family’s identities being leaked, including information about the attacker’s intellectually disabled mother and sister. "I believe this is the price we have to pay for her crimes. We receive over 1,000 calls a day telling us to 'go commit suicide. 'Some even want to know where we live as well. I admit I’ve had some negative thoughts, but first we’d like to solve this, because our family needs to live too.”

The father then revealed that he had no idea what his daughter was doing at the time of the attack, and only found out after the police notified him. "I first found out about the incident when the police called me. It was around the time of her curfew, but she didn't come home and I tried calling her. I had to go to work at dawn the next day so I called her to see if I could see her face before going to sleep, to which she said 'Ok' and then hung up. At the time I had no idea she was involved in this attack.

The attacker’s father immediately said that he was incredibly sorry, and expressed that he wanted to visit the hospital with the other attackers’ parents to apologize. “Even if I’m refused admittance, I will get on my knees and apologize. I want to hold her hand and cry.” He also expressed that he fully believed his daughter should be adequately punished for her crimes. “I promise we will pay the price for the unforgivable crime.”

Currently, the main attacker (aka his daughter) is at a youth detention center and is allegedly self-reflecting on her crimes. “My daughter is currently at a youth detention center, so she doesn’t have a phone. She’s self-reflecting and says she’ll ‘never do it again’.

mods, i know koreaboo is not the most reliable source, but they've been the only ones keeping up with the story. so, if you can, please accept this post. thank you :)

Sources: Koreaboo (1, 2, 3) via TV Chosun (4, 5), JTBC News, Chosun, Insight

Comments

[tiny0fairy.livejournal.com]

like this is honestly so sad and upsetting to read about, i hope 'A' gets a chance to recover and gets some help and can live a happy life but like this is some dark stuff

[misspoirot.livejournal.com]

self-reflecting hmmm sure, jan

[hibaalhadid.livejournal.com]

whenever I read updates about this incident I become sooo angry, I feel so bad for the victim, hope she recovers and gets well, and for the attackers to get punished

[goldenrosalie.livejournal.com]

I don’t think I have it in me to comment on this attack/bullying case as whole but what stood out for me in this post was attacker’s father. All that ~we need to live too~, ~I want to hold her hand and cry~… it’s just so self-serving and all about making himself(and other parents of attackers) feel better and less guilty. I felt nauseous after reading his words.
I really hope 'A' recovers. I don't think that you can truly 100% recover after such horror but I hope she has bright future ahead of her and has good support system.

[ty.livejournal.com]

I am hoping what he means is to get his daughter punished, without death threats on the rest of the family? Maybe?

[relisabeth.livejournal.com]

I think the "I want to hold her hand and cry" was in reference to the victim and her family: it was in the context of his statement about apologising to the family of the victim.

He does seem to feel that his daughter deserves punishment, so that's something? But I don't know if there's anything that will make his little sociopath understand what a horrible thing she did.

[tree-star123.livejournal.com]

ia the father's apology sounds so self serving rme

[tjmok125.livejournal.com]

Attackers need to be put in prison and parents fined. They knew what was going on and refused to acknowledge it.

Honestly these children are more aware of the law then their adult counterparts. Its why they do half the shit they do because they know detention and community service is the worse they will get. As for the attackers mental health I honestly see zero need to provide them with access they lost that the moment they decided to ONCE AGAIN attempt to murder this girl.

[shadownashira.livejournal.com]

I don't have the right words to express how frustrated and angry this case has made me feel. I hope they take a good hard look at themselves because this isn't a one-off, this is systematic and extends from the classmates who likely knew but didn't report, to the bullies, to their parents and to the police. As we speak other kids are probably still being bullied in secret all across the world. UGH.

[friedchickeneu.livejournal.com]

it's sad how the attacker's dad is making it about himself/their family and is clearly trying to gain everyone's sympathy. fuck they all. i hope these kids get the punishment they deserve. i also hope a would be able to have the courage to continue on with her life despite experiencing such a traumatic experience.

be kind to everyone, people.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Smh....

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

I really hate victims of violence being immediately asked if they will forgive their attackers. It is incredibly manipulative and also dehumanizing to force that on victims while they are still recovering. It reminds me of the black church goers who survived the mass shooting by a white supremacist and were asked the next day if they forgave him for killing nine people.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

Also to the father of the main attacker, it takes a selfish asshole to raise a selfish asshole .

The public needs to look at the culture that creates and enables these bullies and others who use violence to get away with it. Part of that is those with authority ignoring it and part is silencing victims with quick cash payments and words of forgiveness and reflection.

[redgreendress.livejournal.com]

I hope the attackers and anyone who was complicit get the punishment they deserve, but an angry mob harassing their relatives is not going to accomplish anything. The culture of suicide in Korea is bad enough without people encouraging it.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

I know bullying is horrible in every country, but I feel like Korean high school kids are on another level. I wonder if its the stress of their education system or society that make them so violent.

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

his daughter is a sociopath, i doubt she's self-reflecting

[sheisagentleman.livejournal.com]

sounds* (but lbr she probably is)

[shadownashira.livejournal.com]

Plus she's in the youth detention centre presumably without access to the outside world, so she's likely not even feeling the full impact of her actions yet (witnessing her family being harassed etc.)

[xxhna.livejournal.com]

Omg that poor girl. All the best to her. And that bully...I hope she gets what she deserves. And her father omg...how much more self centered of a response can he give.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

how true are those rumours saying all those girls come from wealthy families?
i still wonder if they think all of their daughters will get away so easy

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

It's horrifying how many are involved in this case. There are always twisted individuals, but to think that there was a whole group, who mistreated the victim and joined in when asked... what the hell?

[tree-star123.livejournal.com]

im hoping for strict punishment for them.
i really hope the victim has a great support system it's heartbreaking

[bluemaid86.livejournal.com]

The fact that only one parent spoke out and only after the incident went viral and they started having issues (even after getting evidence before hand) tells me a lot. He's likely more sorry and embarrassed at the troubles his kid brought on him then what she did to another human being.

I feel sorry for the attacker's disable family members but her father should have turned his daughter in as soon the victims mother gave solid evidence. Would it have been hard? I'm sure, no one want to admit they have a near murderer for a kid or see their kid in prison but it would have been the honorable thing to do and would have validated the sincerity of his current statement which seems like nothing more then an attempt at damage control.

[dorawa.livejournal.com]

She’s self-reflecting and says she’ll ‘never do it again’.

She's a straight up psycho tho so she needs to get some therapy, not self-reflection.