A Korean-American woman has come forward to speak out about her abuse and severe school violence in high school in Torrance more than 30 years after.
The story has been referred to as “LA’s version of Netflix’s The Glory,” as the photos and identities of the alleged perpetrators have been spreading online.
The Glory (2022) is a Netflix drama that has become a popular topic for addressing the seriousness of school violence.
The incident allegedly took place in the mid-1990s at West High School in Torrance, a school with a large Korean-American student enrollment.
On August 26, an article titled “Perpetrators of school violence (Torrance West High ’96)” was posted on MissyUSA, an online community website for Korean Americans.
In the post, the anonymous user in her 40s detailed a terrifying two-year bullying experience that included threats, assaults, kidnapping, and captivity by a group of older female classmates who were said to be born in 1978. The posting also stated that even decades after the incident, the woman had recently attempted suicide twice due to the after-effects and trauma of the bullying.
According to the post, she was introduced to one of the perpetrators, surnamed Kang, by a friend who moved away when she was in high school. One day, Kang and her friends allegedly began beating her, demanding a 90-degree bow whenever she saw them.
The woman said her face was bruised and her mouth was torn and bleeding repeatedly because she was wearing braces when she was hit. “You were never allowed to snitch, and if you did, the seniors above you would be lynched,” she said, noting that seniors were treated like the “sky” at West High School at the time of the incident.
The assailants that the anonymous user of the post named are five people each surnamed Kang, Kim, Chun, Oh, and Yoon.
The user claimed that she was kidnapped on the day of their graduation party. According to the post, she was blindfolded and taken to a townhouse garage, where she and her friend were assaulted for over four hours.
At one point, the five fellow students hit her with a tennis racket because they had bruises on their fingers from the beating, she said.
She wrote that the assailants said, “We’re beating you up because it’s our graduation day,” and “What about your poor family, you disloyal ****. We’re going to kill you all.” The woman claimed that she was forced to kneel in front of them as she was being assaulted.
According to the post, one of the assailants threw a shoe at her while she was on her knees, saying, “You should crawl over and get it, you’re a dog.”
She added that she also received death threats from them, such as telling her, “You were running down the street and were beaten to death by thugs,” adding, ”If you say our name to anyone, you will die immediately, and your family will be burned to death, and they will be hung in the front door of your house.”
At the time of the incident, she believed the threats would turn out to be true, blaming herself for being “stupid” for not reporting the incident.
Some of the perpetrators are reportedly still living in the Torrance area. The user said she has been severely traumatized, unable to sleep, taking medication, and crying whenever she bumped into them, even at a supermarket.
In her post, she said she only wanted a video apology from each of them, but only two either left short contact details or sent messages asking for contact information without any apology.
On August 30, the Korea Daily reached out to the alleged leader of the incident, Kim, but was unable to reach her.
After the post on the website has since gone viral, many Korean-American users were outraged. Users have been posting recent photos, work information, and family details of the five alleged bullies, who are now 46 years old. Some of them currently work as a real estate agent, a teacher, and a pharmacist.
As the story continues to spread, the identity of a doctor, who was in charge of his treatment of the alleged victim and is a well-known internal medicine specialist in Los Angeles Koreatown, has also been revealed. The comments alleged that he did not report the assault and did not keep proper medical records of her injuries and treatment.
In a phone call with the Korea Daily on August 30, he said, “I don’t remember anything,” adding, “I moved the hospital six years ago and discarded all records that were more than 10 years old.”
As of August 30, all but one of the top 10 most viewed posts on MissyUSA were posts related to the Torrance school violence. One post describing the kidnapping and assault at the graduation party has reached more than 60,000 views.
BY SUAH JANG, HOONSIK WOO [jang.suah@koreadaily.com]
