**Conflict Resolution Through Lawsuits Among Today's Teenagers**

The trend of teenagers resolving conflicts with their peers through lawsuits has been steadily increasing.

According to the "Status of Defamation Crime Suspects" obtained by Dong-A Ilbo from the National Assembly's Administrative Safety Committee through Democratic Party lawmaker Yang Boo-nam, over the past four years, there have been a total of 888 minors under the age of 18 among defamation crime suspects.

The number of these minors increased from 162 in 2021 to 189 in 2022, 254 in 2023, and 283 last year. However, more than half of these 888 minors, totaling 449, had their cases closed without prosecution. A significant portion of these cases involved minors suing other minors.

In this context, "non-prosecution" means that the police judged there to be no charges against the suspect in the complaints or reports and decided not to forward the cases to the prosecution.

When minors file defamation lawsuits for rumors or slander directed at them by their peers, can it lead to punishment?

This is often interpreted as the expression of subjective opinions or trivial arguments. Therefore, the establishment of criminal elements is difficult, resulting in a high rate of non-prosecution. This is often interpreted as the expression of subjective opinions or trivial arguments. Therefore, the establishment of criminal elements is difficult, resulting in a high rate of non-prosecution.

Moreover, it has been reported that there are instances where parents insist on filing complaints even when the students do not wish to do so. This results in overprotective guardianship, sometimes involving lawyers.

Experts believe that the increase in social media usage among minors has weakened peer relationships, leading to more conflicts, and that parental involvement exacerbates these conflicts into lawsuits.

Amidst the isolation caused by COVID-19, it is interpreted that the normalization of non-face-to-face relationships among teenagers has delayed their development of empathy and compromise skills.

Kwak Geum-joo, a professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Psychology, expressed concern to Dong-A Ilbo, stating, "If parents repeatedly intervene in trivial disputes among students leading to courtroom battles, it spreads a societal atmosphere of 'let's do it by the book,' which can deprive them of opportunities to learn tolerance."

Image source: Reference material to aid understanding of the article / gettyimagesbank