Real Cases Inspire Bullying Scenes in Netflix’s ‘the Glory’

• Netflix’s “The Glory” is a Korean drama about a woman seeking revenge on her high school bullies. 
• Gruesome bullying scenes in the show were based on true cases of school violence two decades ago. 
• TV shows like “The Glory” highlight the dark reality of school violence in South Korea.

Netflix’s “The Glory” topped the platform’s Global Top 10 Non-English TV chart in the second week of its release with over 82 million hours viewed.  It is also one of Netflix’s most successful K-dramas to date.

The story follows the protagonist, Moon Dong-eun — played by Song Hye-kyo — who endured a series of horrifying acts of bullying in high school. This is what fueled her desire to wreak vengeance on her bullies. Her 18-year-old revenge plan unfolds in the first part of the series, and is set to continue in part two, which is slated to release on March 10. 

But the gruesome bullying scenes in the show hide an even more revolting truth — they are based on true cases that happened almost two decades ago in South Korea. 

In May 2006, a group of ninth-grade students at a middle school in Cheong-ju — a Korean city south of Seoul — continuously extorted money from a classmate for about a month. Whenever the classmate was unable to meet the demands, the bullies would beat her with a baseball bat, physically kick and hit her, and burn her arms with a hot curling iron.

“Because they would burn me every couple of days to ‘check the temperature’ of the curling iron, my wounds were given no time to heal,” the victim told Korea news source Newsis. “They would even peel my unhealed scabs as a ‘punishment ritual’,” she added. 

The “curling iron” scene in “The Glory” was what brought this case back into the public eye. Korean news source JTBC recently reported that unlike the drama, the person responsible for initiating the crimes in 2006 was sentenced to probation. 

The show highlights a gruesome reality of the serious issue of school violence in South Korea.

The country’s recent government survey reported an increase in school violence in 2022. The same survey found that 41.8% reported verbal abuse while 14.6% reported physical abuse, according to a Korean news source Yonhap. 

In response to the problem, local authorities are looking to strengthen the policies and protection services in place for school violence victims, as well as hold more workshops aimed at decreasing anti-social behavior, according to Yonhap.

The popularity of the show has encouraged many victims of school bullying to come forward with their testimonies, even beyond South Korea, according to The Korea Times.

After the first release of “The Glory,” Thai viewers of the show started an online anti-bullying campaign with the hashtag #TheGloryThai on social media. They noted that there were school bullying cases that went unseen and were revealed as a result, according to The Korea Times.

Hopefully the show can in some way lead to less violence in the future — in South Korea, Thailand and around the world.