Original article in Korean is at this link.

With group ostracism in middle and high school becoming a major social issue,a  study has found that half of university students report being bullied.

The part-time jobs website Albamon announced on the 6th the results of its survey of 885 university students, finding that 46.7% reported having been ostracized by their friends at some point.

54.3% had been ostracized in middle school.

40.7% were bullied before finishing elementary school and 26.4% had been ostracized in high school, while 7.3% had been ostracized after entering university.

The forms of ostracism included “being completely ignored and treated as an invisible person” (75.7%), “being teased and told that everything I do is wrong” (72.4%), and “being ignored and humiliated in front of other people” (66.9%).

38.2% had been physically struck, while 25.0% had money or possessions stolen from them.

31.3% said that the ostracism caused them to have thoughts of killing themselves, and over half, 56%, said they had wanted to get revenge on their bullies.

Asked about how to combat bullying, 25.6% said punishments should be tougher, 19.9% said teachers should intervene, 18.4% said children should be taught how to have harmonious relationships, and 13.1% said there should be counselors available within schools.