Hate speech targeting specific regions, groups, and historical figures, which was once confined to certain online communities, has been found to be deeply embedded in schools.
According to an emergency survey conducted by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) of 1,109 elementary, middle, and high school teachers nationwide, 9 out of 10 teachers reported encountering students using hate speech, discriminatory language, or expressions that distort history over the past year.
Among teachers at all levels, middle school teachers reported the highest experience rate at 92.7 percent.
More than half of the respondents stated that they had heard such hate speech during class.
The most frequent type of hate speech involved "mocking the deaths or tragedies of politicians or historical figures."
This was followed by discriminatory remarks against women, sexual minorities, and people with disabilities, as well as expressions that distort historical events.
Teachers viewed the recent "Paejae High School baseball team incident" not as a simple, isolated act of deviance, but as a structural problem stemming from the spread of online hate culture.
However, 7 out of 10 teachers responded that it is difficult to actively intervene or provide guidance regarding hate speech due to concerns over potential accusations of violating political neutrality or complaints from parents.
In a separate survey conducted among students, 80.6 percent of adolescents recognized that such mocking expressions are problematic.
The survey also showed that adolescents are primarily exposed to hateful content through online platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.
The KTU emphasized that since students are already aware of the problems associated with hate speech, it is urgent to establish clear grounds for prohibition in school regulations and to distribute manuals that address actual cases of hate speech in educational settings.