Police said Monday they have requested an arrest warrant for a middle school student on charges of habitually assaulting a classmate and extorting money from him, some two weeks after the victim committed suicide.

On Dec. 29, the 14-year-old was found hanged in an apartment building in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul, in an apparent suicide after being brutally bullied by his classmates.

The 14-year-old suspected bully, identified only by his surname Lee, allegedly beat the victim and extorted money dozens of times over some eight months, according to the Gwangju Bukbu Police Station. He is also suspected of habitually bullying nine other classmates over the past year, the police added.

"We will also investigate two other accomplices suspected of assaulting the victim," an officer in charge of the case said.

Meanwhile, another 15-year-old middle school student in Seoul was arrested on Monday for detaining and assaulting juniors at his school after they failed to follow his order to extort "enough money" from other peers, according to the Seoul Mapo Police Station.

After being scolded by one of the victim's parents, the adolescent suspect, surnamed Park, allegedly attacked a close friend of the victim in revenge, the investigators added. 

"Despite his young age, we decided to seek an arrest warrant for him considering the seriousness of his crime and the strong demand for his detention from the victims," an officer of the police station said.

Authorities have vowed to step up efforts to eradicate school violence by putting behind bars serious adolescent offenders rather than lightly punishing them, in the wake of a series of recent suicides by young students who had been bullied. (Yonhap News)