Student 'taunted' into teacher attack

[darkjedi]

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4:00AM Friday Sep 25, 2009
By Andrew Koubaridis

South Korean student Tae Won Chung stabbed his teacher in the back after being goaded about his fear of North Korea and returning home to military training, a court heard yesterday.

Avondale College teacher David Warren woke Chung as he dozed in his Japanese class on March 2, warning him "you'll be dead" if he slept while the North Korean army attacked.

Chung took a knife to school the next day, and stabbed Mr Warren in the back.

Mr Warren earlier spoke to him about South Korea's compulsory military training and how Chung would be conscripted into the army when he returned home.

Chung was yesterday jailed for 18 months and ordered to pay $10,000 reparation. He pleaded guilty to injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in May.

His lawyer David Jones, QC, told the Auckland District Court the comments were "the catalyst for what happened the following day".

The then 17-year-old was anxious about going into the army and the volatile situation there. The week before North Korea had been threatening to test fire missiles.

With a rising sense of anger, he went home, took a knife from the kitchen and put it in his school bag. The next day, as Mr Warren wrote on the whiteboard with his back to the class, Chung stood and stabbed him in the right side of his back, damaging his spinal cord and bending the knife.

Mr Jones said the comments were "culturally insensitive" but accepted Chung's reaction was unjustified.

"It triggered in him a response ... This was not a random act of violence in the normal sense and culminated in the explosion of anger on March 3."

Prosecutor Deb Bell said Mr Warren wanted to stress that he was not racist. If Chung was upset he could have sought counselling or sought help but he "didn't do any of those things".

The Crown didn't accept the comments could be seen as provocation and sought a jail term of about six years.

Judge Roderick Joyce said Chung's attack had been "gravely reckless and could have proved lethal". He didn't accept there was a "powerful argument for provocation".

Psychiatric assessments revealed he had a problem with authority, low tolerance and poor impulse control. Judge Joyce said Chung had bottled up his difficulties with Mr Warren.

He said Mr Warren acknowledged friction between the pair existed but didn't think it was greater than any other between a teacher and student.

Mr Warren told the court he would forever remember Chung "straddling" over him with a "bloody knife protruding and threatening me with the words 'Don't ever **** with me"'.

To cope with the flashbacks he was attending counselling, was fearful when strangers approached him from behind and was constantly checking that his doors were locked.

He was on light duties at work and couldn't do the things he used to enjoy because of ongoing leg problems. Doctors have told him they're not sure if he'll make a 100 per cent recovery.

Chung will appeal the sentence.

This guy somehow makes me feel so proud of myself.



I dunno how this is connected to politics but whatever lol

[BuriaL]

..
This guy somehow makes me feel so proud of myself.

oh? Explain..


Getting cought for the planning and failed attempt of murder, isnt something id consider smart. In fact id call that really stupid.

[darkjedi]

oh? Explain..

I'm someone who'd be proud to serve in the military and brag about my experience with the military for many years afterward. If I die in the process I'll be proud of it also. I'm proud that I'm more persevering and braver than, uh, that guy.

[Talapus]

It makes me sad that you need to compare yourself against the dregs of society in order to indulge your elitism.

Actually, everything in this thread is a real buzzkill.

[shabutie]

It makes me sad that you need to compare yourself against the dregs of society in order to indulge your elitism.

^

[darkjedi]

Or maybe I just understand the inevitability of serving in the military and the impossibility of ever avoiding it, and the utter uselessness of crying and stabbing someone else over something so natural and simple.

[ilk3000]

I'm proud to write this post.

[Talapus]

Dulce bellum inexpertis.

[ilk3000]

Dulce bellum inexpertis.

Sweet pretty inexperience?

Kono kotoba wa douiu imi desuka?

[darkjedi]

That's you, maybe.

I'm going to serve the military because it's compulsory, not because it makes me feel elite.

I'm the same age as him, I was also grown aboard, I have the same career interests as him, but I do not forget the allegiance that I owe my country as part of being born and nurtured there. If anything I'm proud of my stoicism; I'm definitely not going to mess up somebody's spine for pointing out something obvious and inevitable to me just because it means hardship.

[Klocknov]

I find that serving the country doesn't just have to be done threw military. I would much rather work on becoming an interpreter and working in politics then go into the military. Though I also have a few other deterrents from the military, and I truthfully don't want to go in and then get a dishonorable discharge for being myself. Last thing I need is that, for then I would be hard set on ever getting a job in my life. I find this kid though did way over re-act, he may have been proud but that is still over board. If you have that much of an aggression towards authority I don't think you would be able to make it in the military to tell the truth, he may of been proud to make that choice, but I think it would have ended up much worse later on unless he got past that dislike of authority.

[darkjedi]

In Korea it's different.

Our greatest threat to national security exists right next door. If North Korea attacks South Korea, it will be the men and women of the ROK military who'll consolidate the defenses of our country and protect ourselves and our friends and families from conquest or destruction. By serving our military we are ensuring our own protection. Who else will fight for us? the U.S.? We will not consent to forever depending on a foreign country. If there is a chance to become stronger individually, then we'll take it. Serving in the military and getting educated in the ways of the military is the first step towards that goal. At least, it helps more than being an interpreter or yet another politician, both of which we already have in abundance. It's good soldiers that we need.

[Klocknov]

I will agree, to each country they need their own groups of people. America has it's enemies, but it also already has a good military base to protect it. If I was in that country I would probably have less problems with the military side, though I would hope they would be less picky then they are here. My major part for not joining is being gay, though that isn't my major deterrent. My major deterrent is my flat feet, the physical course they want me to go threw before I join for six months (without being paid to do so) due to tearing a ligament in my left knee a few years back, and I need my GED first.

The military would be a great spot for me to go, I would get paid for education and get off on starting a career in whatever field I would choose, but I also could do it the hard way by working for my schooling and getting my life set-up for myself. I find that both ways have their bonuses and downfalls, and they are equal in each.

[Proin Drakenzol]

Who else will fight for us? the U.S.?

Yes. Unfortunately.


I hate Busan.

[darkjedi]

Yes. Unfortunately.

You guys are leaving us in 2012.


The DMZ will be solely protected by us, our tanks will be driven by us, (and remove all the American M48 filth lol) our seas will be guarded by our destroyers and our submarines, and our air force will patrol the Korean sky.

[Proin Drakenzol]

Yes. Unfortunately.

You guys are leaving us in 2012.


The DMZ will be solely protected by us, our tanks will be driven by us, (and remove all the American M48 filth lol) our seas will be guarded by our destroyers and our submarines, and our air force will patrol the Korean sky.

Good.


But I'll believe it when I see it.

[fohfoh]

Yes. Unfortunately.

You guys are leaving us in 2012.


The DMZ will be solely protected by us, our tanks will be driven by us, (and remove all the American M48 filth lol) our seas will be guarded by our destroyers and our submarines, and our air force will patrol the Korean sky.

Good.


But I'll believe it when I see it.

And we feel that the American army will willingly leave an area because.... it's great for relations?

[Klocknov]

I live in America, I don't know if we will draw out, as Proin said, I will believe it when I see it otherwise it is just to wait till it happens.

[darkjedi]

^^Yes, it is. It means the U.S. respects Korea's ability to defend itself.

It's also the only way by which we can make the services that millions of Koreans gave for the past 6 decades worth the effort. If Korea can become an independently powerful country, they'll do it. Why did we have to serve the military if it's the U.S. who's gonna protect us anyway, eh?

Even at the current situation if a war broke out between the North and the South, the first responders will be the South Korean F-15K, not the American F/A-18, and the first line of defense will be the South Korean soldiers, and our first layer of defense against North Korean ballistic missiles will be our destroyers and our PAC-2. (dunno if PAC-3 belong to the Americans or not) As our military inevitably get stronger we'll need the U.S.'s help less and less, so why keep them forever?

[Klocknov]

It's not the keeping us part that worries me, it is our thing with meddling in other countries affairs that worries me. I hope that if you can be seen to be strong enough to defend yourself that we will pull out, but with how we are I could never say for sure.