BUSAN — The share of students in Busan who reported being victims of school bullying stood at 2.9%, matching the national average, according to survey results released on the 9th. The rate among elementary school students exceeded the national average, highlighting the need to intervene in peer conflicts among younger children before they escalate into bullying.
The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education said the figure came from the first school bullying survey of 2026, conducted jointly by 16 metropolitan and provincial education offices. The online survey ran from April 14 to May 13 and covered 222,926 students from the fourth grade of elementary school through the third year of high school. A total of 208,170 students took part, a participation rate of 93.4%.
By school level, the rate among elementary school students was 6.2%, or 0.5 percentage points above the national average of 5.7%. Middle school students reported 2.1%, 0.2 percentage points below the national average of 2.3%, while high school students reported 0.7%, 0.1 percentage point below the national average of 0.8%.
Reported bullying rates have generally risen since the COVID-19 pandemic. The education office said the trend should not be read simply as an increase in actual incidents, arguing that changes in how students perceive bullying, greater willingness to report it and developmental differences across school levels must also be taken into account.
Among elementary school students, some may report pranks or disputes common among peers as bullying, the office said. It said it would treat the higher rate among younger students not as a figure to be judged on its own but as a signal to strengthen prevention policies that identify conflicts early and resolve them through education.
Verbal abuse was the most common type of harm reported, at 37.1%. It was followed by group ostracism at 16.3%, physical violence at 15.9%, extortion of money or goods at 6.6%, coercion at 6.5% and cyberbullying at 6.3%. With verbal abuse and ostracism together accounting for more than half of all reported cases, detecting conflicts rooted in everyday language and peer relationships at an early stage has emerged as a key task.
A large share of students who experienced bullying told someone about it. The survey found that 91.4% of those students informed a guardian, teacher or friend. The education office said it would continue to strengthen reporting and counseling systems so that students who ask for help are quickly connected to protection and support.
Prevention efforts will focus on elementary schools. The office plans to identify conflicts between students early and intervene through educational measures, led by newly assigned elementary school bullying prevention division heads deployed this year. A "relationship recovery cooling-off program," currently offered to first- through third-graders, will be expanded to cover first through sixth grades from 2027.
The office will also expand its traveling bullying prevention concerts, which help students build peer relationships early in the semester. The program focuses on helping students develop the ability to resolve pranks and disputes through dialogue rather than letting them grow into bullying.
The office will step up its response to verbal abuse, the most frequently reported category. It plans to promote a culture of respectful language through a "Words, Writing, Heart" contest and by producing and distributing campaign songs to improve language habits. It will also expand social and emotional learning tied to the curriculum, along with student-led peer activities, to build empathy, communication and conflict management skills.
When bullying does occur, protecting the affected student comes first. Through its School Bullying Zero Center, the office will link case investigations with psychological counseling, treatment and legal support, and will strengthen coordination between schools and district education support offices so that students who report bullying do not face further difficulties during investigation and protection procedures.
After cases are handled, the focus shifts to preventing recurrence through relationship repair. A school bullying relationship recovery support team will help both affected and offending students regain psychological and emotional stability and reflect on the causes of the conflict and their own conduct. The office aims to build an educational framework that extends from the return of affected students to school through changes in the behavior of those who committed the bullying.
"We take these results as a sign that schools must look even more closely at the small conflicts and difficulties students face," Superintendent Kim Seok-joon said. "While putting the protection of affected students first, we will provide comprehensive support across prevention, early intervention, fair handling of cases and relationship repair, and build schools where every student can grow up safely and healthily."
