Man arrested for hiring gangsters to beat high schoolers

By Kim Rahn

A chief director at a medical foundation in Busan has been sentenced to two years in prison for hiring gangsters to beat up some high school students, a court said, Tuesday.

The man, whose name was withheld, sent the hired men after the four students, who bullied the son of one hospital worker.

The Busan District Court said it sentenced the director for group violence, putting him behind bars directly from the courtroom.

According to the court, the director heard from the worker in May 2011 that her high schooler son had been bullied at school. Several days later, the director ordered several hospital staffers to “turn the school upside down” to teach the accused bullies a lesson and direct teachers’ attention to the bullying.

Five staffers and two hired gangsters went to the school soon after. They found the four students, hit them in the face and brought them near the school gate. They threatened to kill the students.

When teachers came and suggested they let the students go so they could talk in the teachers’ room, the men cursed the teachers and assaulted one of them.

Earlier in December 2010, the director also ordered some hospital workers to beat up two directors of the foundation whom he had a conflict with over management. About a month later, the workers beat them unconscious in a hotel parking lot in Seoul.

The prosecution learned about the cases after securing testimony from one of the hired men who was arrested earlier this year for a separate violence incident.

“He orchestrated the violence systemically,” the court said. “He sent the people to the school to create fear in the education field and use violence against students and teachers. He deserves punishment.”