Three teenagers accused of threatening and assaulting a middle school peer in front of a group of about ten others have been indicted.
The Busan District Prosecutors Office announced that it has indicted three individuals, including a 15-year-old identified as A, without detention on charges of special assault.
A and the others are accused of threatening and assaulting the victim student in February, inflicting injuries such as a concussion.
A called the victim student out under the pretext that she had spoken ill of her, and brought along 15 companions to the scene to intimidate her.
Among them, B is accused of demanding that the victim student agree to a so-called yacharule and filming the interaction on video with the intention of preventing a report to 112.
Yacharule refers to unregulated fighting with bare fists and no protective gear, which has recently been spreading among students.
Another assailant, C, was investigated for unilaterally assaulting and injuring the victim student.
Initially, the Busan Saha Police Station forwarded the case to the prosecution as C's sole crime, but the prosecution requested supplementary investigation with the intent to book accomplices, responding to the victim's plea that there were accomplices who instigated and encouraged the assault.
However, it was revealed that the police returned the investigation results stating that C acted unilaterally in the assault despite the dissuasion of A and B.
Taking over the direct investigation, the prosecution discovered that an audio file secretly recorded by the victim at the time of the incident and submitted to the police had been omitted from the investigative records, and secured the file again.
The recording reportedly contains content of A threatening the victim student by boasting that the companions at the scene were her friends, and B stating that recording a video of consent to the fight would prevent punishment.
Based on this evidence, the prosecution concluded that A led the crime while B and C participated in the special assault, and indicted all three following supplementary investigations.
Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
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