For the first time in the country’s history, some of South Korea’s top universities have rejected students not for lack of merit, but for their past as bullies. As many as 45 candidates were in fact excluded during the 2025 admissions cycle because they were involved in incidents of bullying or school violence. This was revealed by MP Kang Kyung-sook, who underlined how six of the ten top universities have chosen to apply a new parameter: not only to evaluate how good a student is, but also how correct they have been.
South Korea and the cult of excellence
In a country where the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) is seen almost as a divine judgment, the idea of students with excellent scores being rejected is a true cultural revolution. For decades, in fact, scholastic results have dominated every other aspect, even when behaviors were anything but edifying. But the surge in bullying cases – over 60 thousand victims in 2023, doubled in five years – has forced an urgent rethink.
Leading this change are prestigious institutions such as Kyungpook National University, which has introduced a system of penalties from 10 to 150 points for those with disciplinary records. In 2025, the same university excluded 22 applicants, including students with excellent results on the CSAT. And it is not an isolated case: Seoul National University and Pusan National University have also rejected aspiring freshmen despite impeccable curricula.
From 2026 the rule becomes law
What is today an autonomous choice of universities will become national legislation from 2026. The government, through the agency Yonhap Newsannounced that all universities will have to consider a history of school violence as a binding criterion in admissions. The objective is clear: to create safer environments, empower students and encourage respectful behavior starting from primary schools.
Many applaud the decision, seeing it as a necessary step to teach that excellence cannot be separated from respect for others. But there is no shortage of skeptics: there are those who fear decisions that are too discretionary, those who speak of a “life sentence” for minor infractions and those who believe that only the richest families can afford legal action to clean up their children’s CVs. What is certain is that, amidst enthusiasm and controversy, South Korea is redesigning its values: it is no longer enough to obtain stellar ratings, you must also be good citizens.
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