School Violence Disguised as 'Consensual Fights' Reaches 490 Deliberation Cases Over Two Years
New forms of school violence — such as the so-called 'yacha rule,' in which students agree not to report each other and fight with their fists — were filed with the School Violence Deliberation Committees (bodies that investigate school violence cases and determine disciplinary measures) 490 times over the past two years. While such fights appear outwardly to be consensual, the findings show that many cases involved students who were isolated from their peer group or feared retaliation and participated against their will. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Education to Rep. Han Byeong-do of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, the period saw 684 victims and 1,232 perpetrators.
The 'yacha rule' refers to students arranging fights in advance, agreeing not to hold each other civilly or criminally liable for the resulting assault, and then exchanging blows. Violence is spreading both inside and outside schools as cases emerge not only of students instigating or egging on fights, but also of filming the assaults and posting the footage on social media.
The number of deliberation cases grew roughly 2.1-fold, from 107 in the 2024 school year to 223 in the 2025 school year. In the 2026 school year, 160 cases were deliberated in the six months from March to August, already about 72 percent of last year's total. Middle school students bore the brunt of the harm. Of the 160 cases deliberated through August this year, 106 (66.3 percent) occurred in middle schools, and 173 of the 243 victims — 71.2 percent — were middle schoolers. By region, Gyeonggi Province recorded the most cases at 74 from the 2024 school year through August 2026, followed by South Gyeongsang Province with 61, Gwangju with 55, Busan with 48, Gangwon with 40, and Seoul with 31.
An analysis of the deliberated cases by type found that an average of two types of violence were involved per incident. Physical violence was the most common, included in 88.8 percent of cases, followed by verbal violence at 42.7 percent, coercion at 28.8 percent, and cyberbullying at 18.6 percent.
Of the 1,961 total measures imposed on perpetrators, 1,523 — or 77.7 percent — fell under measures 1 through 3, which are lighter than suspension of attendance and include written apologies, bans on contact, and school service. Measures short of suspension, including community service, completion of special education, and psychological therapy, accounted for 90.2 percent, while heavier measures such as suspension, class changes, and transfers totaled just 193 cases, or 9.8 percent. At least 794 of the 1,232 perpetrators — 64.4 percent — received measures of Category 3 or lighter, which allow the record to be withheld from their school report cards. The number of suspensions or heavier measures per 100 perpetrators also declined, from 20.6 in the 2024 school year to 15.7 in the 2025 school year and 12.6 from March to August this year.
