S. Korean advocate for school bullying survivors dies of apparent suicide

File picture of South Korean hairdresser Pyo Ye-rim speaking during an interview with AFP at her hair salon in Busan on March 29, 2023. - AFP

SEOUL (AFP): Pyo Ye-rim, a hairstylist who became an advocate for the legal rights of school bullying survivors in South Korea, has died in an apparent suicide, local police said. She was 27.

Pyo became a public figure amid South Korea's "Hakpok #MeToo" phenomenon, which saw the victims of school violence -- "hakpok" in Korean -- name and confront their abusers decades after the alleged crimes.