| A high schooler Moon Dong-eun (played by Jung Ji-so), right, the female protagonist of the Netflix series "The Glory" who suffers from severe school bullying, sit in a tense scene of the drama. Korea Times file |
By Lee Hae-rin
The hit Netflix original series, "The Glory," has motivated the victims of school violence to launch online campaigns to expose past school bullies and seek apologies from them. In Korea, a past school bullying incident that traumatized a then school girl has regained the public's attention through the Netflix series which features a brutal scene adapted from actual events.
Penned by a renowned Korean screenwriter Kim Eun-sook, the series revolves around an elaborate, life-risking revenge plotted by female protagonist Moon Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo). Moon, a victim of school bullying, was bullied by some of her classmates as a teen 17 years ago. In the story, the bullies repeatedly burn Moon's body with a hair iron.
Since the release of the first season on Dec. 30, 2022, the suspense drama has made the top 10 most watched Netflix series in around 60 countries, including Thailand, Japan, Mexico, France and Egypt. It is the third-most watched non-English TV series with 24 million hours viewed worldwide, according to Netflix's latest top 10 list for the week from Jan. 16 and Jan. 22.
Although the series is a work of fiction, some scenes are based on actual events.
In May 2006, a group of freshmen at a middle school in Cheong-ju, North Chungcheong Province, abused a fellow student using a hair iron and clothing pins. Asking the victim to "check whether the iron is hot enough," the abusers burned the flesh of the victim who was later hospitalized as a result.
Little was known of whether or how the aggressors were punished until Wednesday, when a local broadcaster JTBC reported that the initiator of the violent crime was sentenced to probation. While she was taken into custody at the time, which is rare for underage perpetrators, she was never punished and holds no criminal record.
Meanwhile, the global popularity of the series has brought victims of past school bullying incidents together and encouraged them to come forward on social media with testimonials. In Thailand, some celebrities accused of having instigated violence against fellow students apologized for their past wrong doings.
Following the release of the series, the Thai viewers started an online campaign under the hash-tag "#TheGloryThai" on social media and revealed school bullying incidents, which had rarely received the media spotlight.
Pawat Chittsawangdee, a 22-year-old Thai actor also known as Ohm Pawat, who gained popularity after acting in a 2021 BL drama "Bad Buddy," tweeted his apology on Jan. 8. He was accused of bullying a friend with autism.
| Thai actor Pawat Chittsawangdee / Captured from Pawat Chittsawangdee's Twitter |
"I played such foolish pranks as a naughty young boy, and my parents and I apologized to the victims and their parents for my wrongdoings," he wrote, adding that he would never forgive himself for bullying his peers, and that he is "truly sorry from the bottom of (his) heart, to every single person who was affected by those childish actions."
A Thai singer and actor Putthipong Assarantanakul, 23, also apologized via Facebook for bullying his friend by leaving malicious comments on his social media feeds.
"I have reached out to that friend to apologize … I have realized that what I write can have both intended and unintended repercussions on others," he wrote.
The second season of "The Glory" will be released coinciding with the beginning of the new school semester on March 10.