Specter of school violence returns

Two Jinju high school students killed in peer violence

By Nam Hyun-woo

Two students were beaten to death at this dormitory building of Jinju Foreign Language High School, South Gyeongsang Province, by fellow students on March 31 and April 11, respectively. / Yonhap

After two students at the same school were killed by fellow students in a span of two weeks, suspicions have arisen that the education office is neglecting its duties as an oversight body.

The chairman of the Nanjung educational foundation, which funds Jinju Foreign Language High School, South Gyeongsang Province, resigned Monday, saying she would take “responsibility” for the deaths.

On Friday, a freshman, 15, whose identity was withheld, died after being kicked in the stomach by a sophomore in a dormitory at the school. The assailant told local police that he attacked the victim because he lied about his whereabouts. The boy was rushed to hospital but his life could not be saved.

Police sought a manslaughter arrest warrant for the attacker Sunday.

Eleven days earlier, another freshman at the school was arrested for beating a peer to death. This time, the assailant hit the victim in the stomach and chest during an argument. According to police, the victim suffocated to death due to obstruction of his air passages.

As the two students were killed within a period of just 11 days, both the school and local education authorities are under fire for failing to counter school violence.

Education offices are usually required to inspect schools where such cases are reported in order to determine if measures are in place to discourage violence.

However, the South Gyeongsang Province Office of Education, which is in charge of the school, did not inspect the school after the first death was reported.

Suspicion lingers that the education office overlooked problems in the school, whose foundation chairwoman is the wife of the office’s Superintendant Ko Yeong-jin.

“The education office prioritizes controlling the situation and inspections follow afterwards,” said an official at the office. “The office was preparing a thorough inspection, but then the second incident occurred.”

He said that the office has refused to accept the resignation of the school’s principal until it can ask him about the tragedies. He added that the office will launch an investigation into the management of the schools with dormitories within its jurisdiction.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Education assigned a team to the investigation. The ministry said the probe will focus on countering school violence.

School violence has been described as one of the main “social evils” by the Park Geun-hye administration, and the government has been making efforts to counter it.

As part of this, the government announced a master plan for countering school violence in March and said that the number of students abused by peers has decreased. However, the incidents in Jinju suggest there are loopholes.

. With the Lions scoring two runs to retake the lead at 10-9, Lim secured the win in the ninth by getting Lee Myung-ki and Cho Dong-hwa on grounders and striking out Choi Jeong.

“I was disappointed that I failed to induce a double play in the eighth, but I am happy that we managed to win. Our hitters came through,” Lim said.

Lim’s return to the KBO has generated excitement as he has always been an electric player. During his prime, Lim’s fastball was considered one of the best pitches ever in the KBO as he got good velocity and movement on the ball delivered from his unorthodox sidearm angle. Against the Wyverns, Lim’s fastball topped out in the upper 140 kilometer per hour levels.

Lim debuted with the Haitai Tigers (now Kia Tigers) in 1995, played for the Lions for nine seasons until 2007 during a span when he was considered one of the league’s best pitchers. Lim led the league in saves in 1999 and 2004 and won 17 games as a starter in 2002.

After leaving the Lions, Lim spent five seasons with NPB’s Yakult Swallows and was one of the league’s top closers. Appearing in six games for the Cubs last season, Lim posted a 5.40 ERA over five innings.