“Let’s agree, then fight it out” ... Teens turn school bullying’s “Yacha rules” into a new game

[Financial News]  A new form of school violence known as the “Yacha rules”—in which teenagers fight after agreeing not to report it even if they injure one another—is spreading among young people. The violence is being packaged as consensual play, while footage of the fights is filmed and posted on social media (SNS), leading to secondary victimization.
Recently, a video of two students fighting under the so-called “Yacha rules” in the underground parking garage of a building have circulated on various online communities.
The students in the video engaged in violence, tripping each other by hooking their legs, punching one another in the face, and spitting.
According to data obtained by Rep. Jeong Seong-guk from the Ministry of Education of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Education Committee, the number of cases involving new forms of school violence, including the Yacha rules, that were reviewed at least doubled, from 107 in the 2024 school year to 223 in the 2025 school year. A total of 160 cases were also reviewed from March through August this year.
The problem is an atmosphere in which violence is justified on the grounds that the parties involved agreed to it. But even if they agreed in advance not to report each other, that does not eliminate their legal liability for assault or bodily injury. Forcing or encouraging a fight, as well as filming and distributing footage of an assault, may also be punishable depending on the extent of each person’s involvement.
Police believe that, as the types of crimes committed by young people become increasingly diverse, it is important for families to pay close attention to changes in their children’s behavior and to identify warning signs early.
The education sector has also begun developing measures to respond to the spread of new forms of school violence.
On the 15th, the Korean Council of Superintendents of Education held the 2026 Korean Council of Superintendents of Education meeting at the Grand Josun Jeju Hotel in Jeju, where it discussed key education issues, including preventing new forms of school violence and reforming local education finance.
At the meeting, the council discussed plans to strengthen preventive education centered on school-assigned police officers (SPOs) and to make the criteria for reviewing school violence cases more detailed. It also shared plans to establish a joint response system among relevant agencies to swiftly remove or block footage of assaults posted online.
Proposed legal amendments to protect teachers’ legitimate educational activities were also discussed as a key agenda item.
The council decided to pursue revisions to laws and regulations to prevent indiscriminate reports of child abuse, strengthen the effectiveness of written opinions from superintendents of education, and establish a dedicated national body to protect educational activities.
To that end, the council plans to step up cooperation with the National Assembly so that the Child Welfare Act and the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse Crimes can be amended to provide meaningful protection for teachers’ legitimate educational activities.
[email protected] Ahn Ga-eul Reporter