Korea Times, News Report, Posted: May 21, 2012

Top educational policymakers of Korea and the United States agreed Monday to conduct a joint study of bullying at schools as part of bilateral cooperation programs on education.

Under the agreement, Korea will study U.S. programs on school brutality and its efforts to strengthen community activities to provide a better learning environment, South Korea's education ministry said.

Education, Science and Technology Minister Lee Ju-ho and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller discussed a wide range of educational issues at their bilateral talks, held on the sidelines of the APEC Education Ministerial Meeting in Gyeongju. The meeting, one of the world’s largest educational events, kicked off Monday for a three-day run.

Lee and Miller exchanged views on the plight of schools in their respective countries. Lee introduced Korea’s efforts to reduce violence at schools, which has become a key social concern here following a series of suicides by students due to bullying. The government announced a set of measures in February to root out bullying, which includes empowering principals to suspend violent pupils from school and launching an alert system for organized student gangs.

Read the rest of the report here.