Recently, there were claims that actor Jo Byung Kyu was a school bully. However, many netizens are responding that there isn't enough evidence and that the person claiming such things should be more cautious when making allegations.
On February 16th, a post with the title, "Victim of Jo Byung Kyu's school bullying," was created on Nate Pann, an online community.
A netizen identified himself as a victim and stated, "I went to New Zealand at the age of 16 to study English. I went to school quietly for about a week. Then one day, a new kid showed up and that kid was Jo Byung Kyu. I was leaving class when he began talking to me. He was wearing tight pants with dyed hair and was talking to me like he was picking a fight. So I didn't like him much so I didn't say anything and left. I think he didn't like that."
The netizen continued to write, "I was eating alone that day because my schedule got messed up, but then these two Korean kids with really bad impressions asked me to follow them. So I thought 'what the?' but I started to follow them. Then about 30 kids surrounded me and began cursing at me."
He explained further, "I got so mad, so I reported to the Korean international student management office and talked to the manager there. So my parents knew about this incident and the lady at my homestay knew as well. So I called Jo Byung Kyu out separately and talked to him. But he talked rudely to the manager too. It ended with the manager warning him that if he does something like this again, that they'll take action according to the school rules. When my parents heard about this incident through my homestay and the school, they got so worried since I was abroad alone."
The netizen concluded by writing, "In conclusion, Jo Byung Kyu didn't use violence. He was using being verbally abusive. All I want him to do is admit he was a school bully and apologize."
In the post, the netizen posted a photo showing that he had attended the same school as Jo Byung Kyu and a conversation of a Kakao message with his friends.
However, netizens have reacted negatively as they left comments such as "You need to upload more proper evidence," "If this is true, you need to reveal the names and expose him for real," and "Does this even apply as bullying?"
Meanwhile, Jo Byung Kyu had previously been accused of school bullying in the past, when he appeared in the drama 'Sky Castle' in 2018. During that time, Jo Byung Kyu denied all allegations of school bullying.
At that time, he explained, "A lot of people didn't have a good image of me because I was more interested in and doing acting. So people thought I didn't go to school too often." The actor further explained, "When I was younger, I didn't care too much about what other people thought of me, so I understand that there could be more controversy because I didn't sway too much on what people said. I hope that the time I put in the effort to prove myself to the public doesn't get wasted because of such groundless claims. I have never done such a thing (school bullying)."
Is this like a Korean thing? Whenever someone gets a bit of fame, they claim that the person was a school bully.
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