By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
A video clip showing a male teacher beating a schoolgirl ruthlessly with his bare hands and a rod has been creating a stir on the Internet.
The one-minute-long clip, which was recorded at a girl's high school in Daegu City, begins as a group of some 10 schoolgirls are going through disciplinary punishment, doing squats with their arms around each other's shoulders at the command of a male teacher, similar to what soldiers do in the army.
But the tense atmosphere gets worse as one of the schoolgirls breaks away from the formation, saying she cannot take it due to an injury. The teacher beats her on her thigh with a rod and starts to slap her on the cheek and also hits her on the head as she protests the corporal punishment.
The clip ends as other schoolgirls and another teacher stop the angry teacher. The scene was recorded on a mobile phone by one of the students and soon released and circulated on the Internet.
With criticism mounting, the school said the teacher seemed to lose his temper while disciplining them.
``We will take the necessary step soon. And the teacher has expressed deep regret,'' an official from the school said.
The Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education Monday announced it will soon dispatch school commissioners to the school and hold a disciplinary committee meeting to decide the level of punishment for the teacher.