For students applying to university in South Korea, a school violence disciplinary record can carry consequences beyond the school gates. Under admissions guidelines for the 2026 academic year, universities were required to consider those records across major admission routes.
Figures reported in January 2026 showed the results: in a sample of nine national universities, 162 of 180 applicants who received admissions point deductions for school violence records were rejected.
What the 162 figure covers
KBS World reported on January 2, 2026 that the figures came from university data obtained by lawmaker Jin Sun-mee’s office. The 162 rejections represented 90 percent of the 180 applicants in that group.
The number needs its context. It describes applicants in a particular national-university sample during early admissions for the 2026 academic year. It is not the total for every university in South Korea.
Nor was it an automatic nationwide exclusion. Eighteen applicants in the same group were admitted. The figures show outcomes among applicants who received disciplinary-record deductions; they do not establish that those deductions were the sole reason for every rejection.
Universities must consider the records
The policy had been announced well before those results. In August 2023, the Korean Council for University Education published its basic guidelines for 2026 admissions.
They required universities to reflect school violence disciplinary measures in admissions based on school records, the national college entrance examination, essays, and practical or performance assessments. Universities could determine and announce their own methods for incorporating the measures.
That distinction matters: mandatory consideration does not mean every institution applies an identical penalty.
A broader picture
A later report showed that the issue extended beyond the smaller national-university sample. On January 16, the Seoul Economic Daily reported that 2,460 of 3,273 applicants with school violence records across 170 four-year universities were rejected in the 2026 early admissions round, approximately 75 percent.
Those are separate figures covering a wider group. Together, the reports illustrate how disciplinary histories had become part of the admissions process, while also showing why a rejection statistic should not be mistaken for a universal ban.