Korea grapples with escalating school violence, raising safety concerns

Police investigate a knife attack carried out by a student at a high school in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Monday. Yonhap

Monday began like any other for Lim (identified only by his surname), a 43-year-old father of two. He was driving slowly through a school zone in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on his way to drop his children off at kindergarten.

Suddenly, a student in gym clothes darted out from between some of the slow-moving cars and ran toward his vehicle.

“The student tapped on the rear window of my car,” Lim recalled. “I rolled it down, wondering what was going on. He just stared at me for a second or two without saying a word — then suddenly struck me in the face with a knife and ran off.”

Lim wasn’t the only victim.

The attacker, a high school sophomore whose name was not released, stabbed Lim while fleeing the scene of a rampage at a nearby school, where he wounded at least seven people, including the principal.

A recent string of knife attacks at schools across Korea has sparked increasing concerns about the safety of students and teachers, prompting renewed calls for stronger measures to prevent campus violence.

Just two months ago, a shocking case in Daejeon involved a teacher fatally stabbing a student at a school.

Myeong Jae-wan, a 48-year-old elementary school teacher who had returned from a leave of absence for depression, fatally stabbed 7-year-old Kim Ha-neul after luring her into a media room. The rare instance of a teacher killing a student on campus shocked the Korean public.

“There should never be a tragedy like what happened to my daughter again,” Kim’s father told reporters. “The government must come up with real solutions to make sure this never happens again.”

Messages mourning the death of Kim Ha-neul, a 7-year-old stabbing victim, are posted at an elementary school in Daejeon, Feb. 12. Newsis

Despite existing safety protocols, the two recent cases revealed serious gaps in school security. In the high school attack in Cheongju, an emergency bell had reportedly been installed under desks, but failed to prevent the tragedy.

“Emergency bells are just a temporary solution,” Park Hyun-kyung, a branch manager of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union in North Chungcheong Province, told The Korea Times.

“In a real emergency, will anyone even be able to press the button? If a student armed with a weapon approaches me, how can I stop them?”

She emphasized that the core issue is the growing number of students struggling emotionally, adding that the fundamental solution lies in early identification and proper support for those in distress.

“Teachers can offer guidance and counseling within the educational realm, but there are many cases where that alone is not enough. For students experiencing emotional distress, it would be helpful if they could be properly connected with medical services,” she added.

In response to rising concerns over school violence, the National Police Agency launched the School Police Officer program in 2012. But the program, designed primarily for peer conflicts and nonlethal incidents, is not equipped to handle violent crimes involving weapons — such as the recent knife attacks.

Instead, in serious incidents like stabbings, the initial response is handled by police, while school police officers are brought in afterward to reinforce patrols, monitor high-risk students or provide follow-up interventions when the offender is a student.

“Crimes where every second counts are first handled by officers dispatched through the 112 emergency line,” an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Juvenile Protection Division told The Korea Times.

He stressed that permanently stationing armed officers at schools isn’t realistic due to staffing limitations, so police focus on improving response times and run programs that deploy senior citizens to patrol areas near elementary schools.

“Especially during times of heightened public anxiety, school police are working with schools and local governments to develop monitoring measures aimed at easing those concerns,” he added.