The two biggest school bullying scandals this year were one surrounding the rookie girl group LE SSERAFIM's Kim Garam and one centering around Nam Joo Hyuk, which is the latest school bullying controversy.
Earlier this year, many Korean netizens were looking forward to the new girl group from HYBE, but as soon as the teaser photos for the members were released before their debut, there were accusations against Kim Garam as many alleged she was a school bully. Soon after, dozens of pieces of evidence and photos flooded the web showing Kim Garam making crude hand gestures.
Additionally, many netizens stepped forward alleging Kim Garam was responsible for various harsh school violence. One netizen even shared documents showing that Kim Garam was summoned to Autonomous Committee for Countermeasures against School Violence and given a degree 5 punishment. There were more individuals who give an account of Kim Garam's actions in school as they claimed that she made sexual statements about other male idols and slandered her group members.
Kim Garam's school bullying scandal caused quite a stir in the Korean entertainment industry, which led the idol to take a temporary hiatus. Nevertheless, many Korean netizens remained angered as HYBE refused to remove the idol from LE SSERAFIM.
Then recently, Nam Joo Hyuk became embroiled in a bullying controversy as an anonymous tipper claimed that Nam Joo Hyuk had bullied his friend for many years and accused him of being a school bully. However, Nam Joo Hyuk's agency stated that it will take strict legal action against the false accusations and denied all the allegations.
Nevertheless, the initial accuser did not back down, and another victim stepped up, claiming they were bullied by the actor. Since then, there were more classmates who stood up in defense of the actor, along with two homeroom teachers who vouched that Nam Joo Hyuk was a good kid in school. With more claims and accusations continuing to surface in regards to Nam Joo Hyuk, many netizens are taking a neutral stance in this latest school violence controversy.
However, one netizen started a debate in an online community where she asked why the reactions to these two controversies are so different. According to the netizen who created the post, "People were posting so many things about Kim Garam when it (controversy) first came out but people are on neutral stance with Nam Joo Hyuk."
Other netizens joined the conversation to give their opinions as to why the reactions are so different. Netizens commented, "Well the difference is evidence of the degree 5 punishment," "Well, for Nam Joo Hyuk, it's just two sides just going back and forth. But for Kim Garam, there were so many photos and evidence," "For Kim Garam, there was real evidence like documents but Nam Joo Hyuk only has the victim's claims and photo of the yearbook," "What Kim Garam did was very recent though," "There are so many people talking about Kim Garam but there are only a few claims about Nam Joo Hyuk," and "Nam Joo Hyuk's accusers changed their story around a lot didn't they?"
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