IU, Ju Ji-hoon, Park Bo-young: Korean stars who publicly shared their school bullying experiences

Three of Korea's biggest entertainment names have gone on record about being bullied at school. The details are brutal.

Actor Ju Ji-hoon addressed it on the variety program 짠한형 신동엽 in April 2024. He grew up in Cheonho-dong, Gangdong-gu, Seoul. "At that time, the population was large so there were many school bullies too," he said. The harassment wasn't one-on-one. "Because I was big, it wasn't a one-on-one fight, but they would threaten saying 'we'll bring our older brother,'" he explained. Groups demanding submission harassed him straight through high school graduation. Asked if he'd ever been tempted to join them or become a target, he was blunt: "If I had done that, could I have been here?"

IU brought up her own experience in a behind-the-scenes video for the EIGHT music video posted to her official channel in 2020. A staff member asked offhandedly whether she'd ever been to a rooftop as a kid. She said she'd been dragged there "several times." Middle school students in uniforms extorted money from her in elementary school—threatening her with a bicycle wheel while she was playing with friends.

Park Bo-young's story came out differently. On the 2010 SBS program 달콤한 고향 나들이, 달고나, her actual elementary school classmates appeared and listed what they had done to her via sketchbook: throwing rotten milk from the fourth floor to hit her, spraying water on her back when she wore a white blouse, hitting her head for no reason. "Bo-young cried often and that was fun," they said. Park Bo-young, who later won Best Actress at the 3rd Blue Dragon Series Awards, said simply: "I remember kids throwing things at me as I passed by."

(All three spoke about these experiences themselves—no allegations from outside parties.)