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Reported school bullying reaches highest level since 2018: survey

Published: 17 Mar. 2026, 17:41

Protesters demand an end to school violence in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on July 24, 2024. [NEWS1]

Elementary school students reported the highest levels of school bullying in Korea, with 5 percent saying they had experienced bullying — nearly double the rate among middle school students and five times that of high school students.

The survey found that an average of 3 percent of all students — across elementary, middle and high school students — reported being victims of school bullying, the highest level since the survey began in 2018. The figure surpasses the previous record of 2.5 percent set in the first survey of 2025, marking a second consecutive survey to hit a record high.

By school level, middle school students reported a victimization rate of 2.4 percent, while high school students reported a rate of 1 percent.

“Elementary students tend to be more sensitive to bullying, which leads to higher response rates. There is also a growing share of cases later determined not to constitute school bullying,” a Ministry of Education official said.

By type, verbal abuse accounted for the largest share of cases at 40.3 percent, followed by group bullying, 15.3 percent; physical violence, 13.9 percent; cyberbullying, 6.8 percent; stalking, 5.6 percent and sexual violence, 5.1 percent.

The rate of students who admitted to being bullies stood at 1.1 percent overall. The figure was 1.9 percent for elementary school students, 0.9 percent for middle school students and 0.2 percent for high school students.

57.8 percent of the responded bullies reported apologizing to the victim. This was followed by 14 percent who reported receiving guidance from a teacher and 12.3 percent who reported being scolded by a parent or relative. Meanwhile, 8.9 percent reported that nothing happened after the incident.

Protesters demand enhanced protection of school violence victims in Sejong on Dec. 9, 2020. [YONHAP]

The Education Ministry is strengthening its response system to school violence each year through coordinated measures with related agencies. Starting this year, it will introduce a relationship recovery reflection system for first- and second-graders in elementary school, allowing minor cases to be addressed through restorative programs before formal disciplinary review.

“We will continue to strengthen support to build a fair and educational response system for school violence and provide tailored, integrated support for victims,” an Education Ministry official said.

The findings were released Tuesday in the Education Ministry’s second school violence survey for 2025, conducted by 17 regional education offices and carried out by the National Youth Policy Institute and the Korea Education and Research Information Service. The monthlong survey, which began Sept. 22 last year, targeted about 220,000 students from fourth grade in elementary school to second grade in high school, with about 170,000 participating, for a response rate of 76.6 percent.

The official school violence survey is conducted twice every year, with a full-scale survey in the first round and a sample-based survey in the second.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY LEE BO-RAM [[email protected]]