By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

A female student took her own life after receiving corporal punishment from her teacher.

According to police in Gwangju, the 13-year-old middle school student hanged herself and was found last Thursday in her room by family members.

The unidentified girl was ordered by her teacher to repeatedly crouch down and stand up as punishment because she did not read some assigned books.

Police say the teacher claimed that the level of discipline was far from harsh and there was no corporal punishment harsh enough to drive her into committing suicide.

Her suicide came weeks after a high school student in the same city also killed himself after being stuck 110 times on the foot with a rod by his teacher. The student received the punishment from his female teacher after he skipped two hours of self-study classes. The 16-year-old was found hanging from a tree in a nearby playground.

Last month, another female high school teacher in the city caused a stir after she ordered some female students to take off their uniform skirts as a punishment for poor quiz scores.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr