"They say you need to take a passport to go to Jeolla-do... They giggle and call us 'hongeo.'"

"They call the May 18 pro-democracy movement a 'Gwangju riot.' One student even shouted 'Tank Day, fighting' during class."

"In science class, while studying gravity and watching objects fall, they said 'unji' (a slur belittling the death of former President Roh Moo-hyun)."

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union holds a press conference on hate speech at Gwangsan Building in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 7th after the Paichai High School incident. /Courtesy of News1

Teachers testified that hate speech mocking certain regions and groups and historical tragedies is exchanged routinely even in schools. They noted that expressions once used mainly on some online communities like Ilbe are being consumed as a joke among students.

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) held a news conference on the 7th at the Korea Federation of Service Workers' Unions in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, and announced the results of a survey on perceptions of hate and historical distortion expressions conducted with 1,109 elementary, middle and high school teachers nationwide. The survey was carried out urgently after members of the Paejae High School baseball team shouted cheers belittling the May 18 pro-democracy movement during a game against Gwangju Jeil High School, stirring controversy.

According to the survey, 89.3% of all respondents said they had encountered students' hate, discrimination or historical distortion expressions at school in the past year. Of those, 73.9% said they witnessed them directly, and 15.4% said they heard about them through others. By school level, middle school teachers reported the highest rate at 92.7%, followed by elementary schools at 87.4% and high schools at 86.4%.

By type of hate speech, "mocking the deaths or tragedies of politicians or historical figures" was the most frequent at 88.9%. The KTU said expressions belittling former President Roh Moo-hyun were often mentioned within this category. That was followed by "hatred and discrimination against women, sexual minorities, people with disabilities and migrants" at 86.8%, "belittling by generation, occupation or class" at 81.8%, and "distorting or trivializing historical events" at 80.5%.

Students' hate speech mostly appeared in everyday conversation. Among teachers who encountered hate speech, 77.3% said they heard it in "student-to-student conversations during breaks." Another 52.6% said they encountered it as "remarks during class." In particular, 62.3% of middle school teachers said they encountered such expressions during class, higher than elementary schools (41.0%) and high schools (49.7%).

A representative player from the Paichai High School baseball team in Seoul, who sparked controversy by chanting a cheer disparaging a region, visits Gwangju Jeil High School in Gwangju Metropolitan City on the 6th and delivers a written apology to a representative player from the Gwangju Il High baseball team. /Courtesy of News1

Teachers in the field said it is hard to view the Paejae High School incident as merely the deviance of a few students. A total of 88.4% responded that "it is hard to see it as a spontaneous deviation by certain students alone and it should be viewed in connection with the spread of online hate culture." As for the cause of the Paejae High School incident, "the spread of online hate content and community culture" was cited most at 94.0%. "Hate- and ridicule-laden language by politicians and the media" was also cited at 74.4%.

Teachers on the ground also complained of a lack of response systems. As reasons why it is difficult to provide guidance when hate speech issues arise, the most common was "it could be taken as a violation of political neutrality" at 69.9%. "Concerns about complaints from parents or external attacks" also came in at 60.1%. Only 2.1% of teachers said their schools had relevant manuals and that they were familiar with them, while 54.0% said "there is no manual."

A separate survey conducted by the KTU with 1,636 students from 6th grade in elementary school to 12th grade in high school also confirmed exposure to online hate speech. The content students encountered most was "mocking appearance, grades, family environment, region or way of speaking" at 53.5%, and "mocking the deaths or tragedies of politicians or celebrities" at 51.2%. By platform, YouTube was 53.1%, Instagram 51.6% and TikTok 33.6%.

However, many students recognized that hate speech is a problem. Among students who knew about the Paejae High School incident, 80.6% answered, "If it is an expression that mocks other people, regions or historical pain, I think it is a problem." When a friend uses hate speech, 43.4% said, "It makes me uncomfortable, but I just let it go."

Students pointed to education as the solution. A total of 55.3% responded that "properly learning about hate speech and historical distortion issues at school" is needed, and 42.9% said "classes that examine actual cases and think about why they are problematic" are needed.

The KTU said, "These survey results cannot be explained by the simple diagnosis that teenagers are uncritically accepting expressions of hate, ridicule and historical distortion," and added, "Many students already know what the problems are, and they are asking society and schools to explain this more clearly and address it together."

※ This article has been translated by AI. Share your feedback here.