Police said Sunday they will significantly increase the number of officers tasked with tackling school violence, which has been the subject of public uproar following several suicides by bullied students.

The National Police Agency said it will soon begin talks with the government to increase the number of new hires for its anti-school violence mission.

The new employment plan is expected to help equip the 249 police stations nationwide with at least one police officer exclusively tasked with fighting and preventing bullying and hazing at schools, according to the agency.

The increased anti-violence force will likely empower the police to more thoroughly and regularly track both student offenders and bullying victims.

As part of their boosted efforts to wipe out school violence, the division handling women‘s and adolescent issues at each police station will be strengthened and better staffed.

“In the United States, one official reportedly covers one or two schools, but here in South Korea, more than 45 schools go to one official and that makes it hard for officials to delve deeply into the school violence issue,” a police official said. “We need a massive amount of new hires to assign at least one official to each police station.” 

(Yonhap News)