Web Buzzing Over Dangsan ‘Big Brother’

The incident involving a kickboxing gym owner committing an act of violence, reported by the Dong-A Ilbo on April 17, is creating a buzz on the Internet.

Operating a kickboxing gym at Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Lee (age 46) was leaving his house on April 15 when he saw five high school students wearing uniforms and smoking cigarettes. When he chastised them, one of them started to protest. Lee then kicked the student’s thigh and hit his face with his fists.

After the incident was reported, thousands of postings on the subject appeared on Internet portal sites, and the Eunpyeong Police Station homepage listed 40 messages pleading his innocence.

Several netizens nicknamed Lee, “The Big Brother of Dangsan.”

Most wrote that Lee was putting the students in line and that he should not be punished. A netizen with the ID Genie worried that “if you start punishing people for these kinds of reasons, adults won’t be interested in putting kids in line anymore.”

Though the number was few, some also said that whatever the reason, violence was not the answer.

Lee Hun-gu, a psychology professor at Yonsei University, said, “The explosive reactions of netizens are a sort of vicarious satisfaction. They are expressing their anger at the younger generation who resist the older generation.”

Lee said, “My intention was good, and I only wanted to advise them, but the students started to talk back and the issue got out of hand.”

The students’ parents said, ‘We can’t come to an agreement unless he makes a formal apology.”

As the incident caused a greater sensation than expected, the Eunpyeong Police issued a public notice on April 20, saying that “the injured student is also to blame, but violence cannot be tolerated.”

Police sources stated that “I worry about the fomentation of public opinion,” and added that “the parents of the injured student submitted a medical record stating that the patient has a ruptured eardrum, so that early next week we will send an indictment notice to the prosecution.”

peacechaos@donga.com