The Ulsan district court fined a father who called up his son's bullies and slapped them more than ten times each.

The Ulsan District Court stated on July 8th, that they have fined a 46-year-old man (Mr. A) 4 million KRW ($3,300) for violating the Child Welfare Act.

According to the court, Mr. A called his son's friends B (16 years old) and C (17 years old) to his home in Jung-gu, Ulsan, after hearing that his son was bullied by them. The incident began back in March of 2019 when Mr. A called these who teenagers to his home at 10 PM.

When the two teenagers entered Mr. A's home, Mr. A intimidated them by wielding a wooden stick. Then he went on to slap and hit the teenagers using his fist and palm. Mr. A was put on trial for the victims' eardrums had ruptured.

The court judged that Mr. A had committed assault against children and stated: "Mr. A committed physical abuse that damaged the children's bodies and deteriorated the children's health and development." The court continued to explain their judgment on the case. They stated "The degree of assault is not light, but Mr. A is a first-time offender. He has also acknowledged his faults and is self-reflective on the crime."

Also, the parents of the victims did not want to punish Mr. A on his actions. However, Mr. A admitted and acknowledged that he violated the Child Welfare Act. Usually, the perpetrators of a regular assault are not prosecuted if the victims do not want them to be punished. However, this does not apply to this incident under the Child Welfare Act. Thus, Mr. A has been brought to trial regardless of the agreement between him and the victims' parents.

The court has acknowledged that the victims' parents do not want to prosecute Mr. A. However, they fined Mr. A for the violation of the Child Welfare Act.

Some netizens have disagreed with the court stating, "As a father, it's understandable that Mr. A punished the kids.", "If some kids were to bully my children, I would do the same.", "Yeah, those bullies need to be reprimanded and nip those actions on the bud.". "Korea should make a law that punishes bullies for sure instead of punishing the father. His son could have killed himself if the bullying was severe. Paying the fine is worth saving my child's life.", "I would've beat those kids too."