By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

A group of Korean girls' assault on a love-rival in New Zealand has shocked the Korean community there. A juvenile court in North Shore, Auckland, recently convicted six teenage girls studying at two top Auckland schools for assaulting another 16-year-old, according to the Sunday Star Times.

The girls, aged between 15 and 17, held the victim captive, also a Korean girl aged 16, for about an hour in February. They punched and kicked her and burnt her with cigarettes, as the victim was more popular at school and was a rival with one of the girls over a boy, according to the weekly newspaper.

The victim, whose name was not disclosed, was said to be traumatized and did not tell her mother for weeks. She suffered from serious cigarette burns to her arms, the paper reported.

Her mother reported this to police. The victim reportedly told her mother that she was too terrified to run away as she thought that they would come after her.

The assaulters will attend a family group conference to discuss compensation for the victim. The girls will have to reappear in court for sentencing in June.

Most of the assaulters have struggled to adjust to life in New Zealand, Sunday Star Times quoted John Cho, spokesperson for North Shore Korean community, as saying.

Some of the girls were living with one parent while the others were living with a homestay family. But all of them, including the victim, had become rebellious and had difficulty adapting to the extreme cultural differences, according to Cho.

It is not uncommon for young people to ``get out of control'' when they move to New Zealand. New Zealand society is ``too open'' compared to a conservative Asian culture where school children prioritized studies and were denied romantic relationships, Cho said. He added none of the girls had been in trouble before they came to the country.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr