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Two freshmen girls at an Incheon high school have been arrested for a brutal campaign of bullying against a classmate that included burning her abdomen with a heated spoon and poking her vagina and anus with writing utensils.
Police said Thursday the nightmare of the 16-year-old identified by her surname Kim began in March last year, when she was a third-year middle school student in Incheon. Two classmates identified as Yu and Park started harassing her because, they said, she was short, not particularly pretty and apt to cry over nothing. At first, they teased her and made her run errands for them, but as the abuse grew more serious, they beat her and stole her money.
The abuse continued when Kim and Yu entered the same high school this year. On one occasion Yu and Park brought Yu's 16-year-old boyfriend to Kim's home, where they called Kim out and dragged her to Yu's home, claiming she had failed to show up for an earlier meeting.
There they heated up a spoon with a disposable lighter and burnt Kim¡¯s stomach. Then they used a felt-tipped pen to stab her thighs. They stripped her naked and poked her vagina and anus with writing utensils or twigs, taking pictures of the abuse with a digital camera. Kim did not cry out for fear of further brutality, police said.
Concerned by bruises on Kim's body and face as a result of their attack, her assailants pressured her to call the police and tell them other girls beat her. "At first, Kim didn't reveal that she was assaulted,¡± police said. ¡°Yu and Park visited her at the hospital and stole her food, and even after she was discharged, they continued to beat her. That is when she decided to tell all."
Incheon's Dongbu police arrested Yu and Park on Thursday, and booked the boyfriend for complicity. The two are also suspected of forcing Kim to steal W250,000 (US$250) from her own father when Yu lost one of her contact lenses.
Yu and the others told police they started to harass Kim because she would not listen to them. Kim is attending school, but police say she is mentally and physically exhausted from the abuse.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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