SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS

On May 13, Samsung announced that it held a “Blue Elephant (PUCO) Nonviolence Campaign” at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul to prevent and improve awareness of youth cyberbullying. The event consisted of various programs, including a signing ceremony for a six-party business agreement, cyberbullying experience booths, an award ceremony for the prevention idea contest, and an exhibition of works.

“Blue Elephant (PUCO)” is a youth-targeted project to strengthen prosocial competencies (honesty, promise, forgiveness, responsibility, consideration, and ownership), provide cyberbullying prevention education, and support the healing of victimized students.

※ “Blue Elephant (PUCO)”, a youth cyberbullying prevention activity started in February 2020 by the Blue Tree Foundation and Samsung, is a name created by combining the words ‘elephants’, who protect each other in herds, and ‘blue’, which symbolizes peace and stability. It contains the meaning of preventing and eradicating violence in the cyber jungle.

□ On May 13, a six-party agreement was signed between the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the National Police Agency, the Blue Tree Foundation, the Community Chest of Korea, and Samsung.

Samsung signed a six-party agreement with the Blue Tree Foundation, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the National Police Agency, and Community Chest of Korea to prevent and eradicate youth cyberbullying.

In 2020, Samsung has signed a business agreement with the Blue Tree Foundation, an organization (NGO) specializing in youth violence prevention, as well as the Ministry of Education and the Community Chest of Korea, to prevent youth cyberbullying.

This business agreement, which includes the cooperation of the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, will enable the "Blue Elephant (PUCO)" to expand its existing prevention education activities as well as strengthen support activities for victimized students such as protection, and psychological and physical recovery of the victimized students.

The National Police Agency plans to increase cyberbullying prevention and publicity in schools through dedicated school police officers (SPOs), and coordinate support activities such as identifying and protecting victimized students.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family supports psychological counseling for cyberbullying victims through youth welfare centers in cities, districts and boroughs nationwide, and participates in spreading a culture of cyberbullying prevention.

The Ministry of Education plans to work with the Metropolitan and Provincial Offices of Education and elementary, middle and high schools across the country to help promote cyberbullying prevention education projects.

As an organization specializing in youth violence prevention in Korea, the Blue Tree Foundation takes the initiative in conducting cyberbullying fact-finding surveys, producing and operating prevention education contents, and carrying out the establishment of a cyberbullying prevention system.

The Community Chest of Korea provides administrative support such as external PR and rental of facilities to ensure the project runs smoothly.

Samsung provides funding for the project through the Community Chest of Korea. In addition, executives and employees plan to participate in nonviolence campaigns, signing of petitions, and preventive education.

The signing ceremony was attended by the Vice Minister of Education Jang Sangyoon, Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family Lee Kisoon, Director of the National Police Agency Public Safety Bureau Kim Jooncheol, Chairman of the Board at the Blue Tree Foundation Park Gilseong, Secretary General of the Community Chest of Korea Hwang Inshik, and CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Chang Duckhyun. In addition, lawmakers Lee Taegyu (People Power Party) and Jang Gyeongtae (Democratic Party of Korea) from the National Assembly attended and delivered congratulatory remarks.

The attendees participated in the declaration of support for nonviolence, pledging their commitment to preventing and eradicating cyberbullying and promising to make efforts to improve public awareness of cyberbullying.

"I would like to ask for the public's interest and participation in creating a culture of nonviolence so that all students can grow up healthy in safe schools without school violence," said Vice Minister of Education Jang Sangyoon.

Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family Lee Kisoon said, "We will increase 'cyber outreach' services in online spaces to detect cyberbullying at an early stage, and operate intensive psychological clinics at youth counseling and welfare centers nationwide,” and added that, “We will also provide outreach services utilizing 'youth mental health guardian buses' to care for the mental health of psychologically and emotionally distressed youth."

“Malicious comments written as a joke can cause irreparable damage to someone for the rest of his/her life, and the perpetrator will be punished for it,” said Kim Jooncheol, Director of the National Police Agency Public Safety Bureau, adding that "We will do our best to eradicate school violence by actively cooperating with various communities."

Park Gilseong, Chairman of the Board at the Blue Tree Foundation, commented, “This campaign will be the first step for Korea to go beyond school violence and move toward a non-violent society.”

"We will do our best to help our youth grow up in a safe world free of school violence and cyberbullying," said Hwang Inshik, Secretary General of the Community Chest of Korea.

"Youth cyberbullying is a serious social problem and a challenge we are currently facing, and all members of the society should make efforts to prevent and eradicate this," said Chang Duckhyun, CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, adding that "Samsung Electro-Mechanics will take the initiative and strive to ensure that the youth grow up bright and healthy without being exposed to dangerous cyberbullying."

Meanwhile, in his congratulatory remarks, lawmaker Lee Taegyu said, "School violence is not only a problem for students, but also a problem that the state and society should actively pay attention to," also saying that "I sincerely hope that today's campaign will serve as an important opportunity to prevent and eradicate school violence and cyberbullying."

"This campaign is an opportunity for students and citizens to participate in recognizing the seriousness of cyberbullying and improving the situation," said lawmaker Jang Gyeongtae, adding that "It is significant that the government, civil groups, and businesses are working together for the future growth of youth."

□ School violence is a ‘crime,’ not a ‘prank', and various programs were introduced to raise public awareness

More than 12,000 people, including youth groups, officials related to elementary, middle and high schools, and the general public, participated in the event carried out at Gwanghwamun Square, and various programs were held to spread awareness of cyberbullying among the public.

Under the theme of "Exploring the Blue Elephant (PUCO) for acquiring prosocial skills," there were 20 booths on site where participants could get a feel of the dangers of cyberbullying and the need for prevention education firsthand.

Each experience booth consisted of contents and activities to raise awareness of the dangers of cyberbullying and the importance of prevention education such as the birth of the blue elephant and worldview, learning about cyberbullying, signing nonviolence support petitions, comforting victims through letters and messages, and suggestion of policies.

In addition, an awards ceremony was held for the poster, webtoon, and essay contest, which was carried out for a month from March, on the theme of “Creating a world safe from school violence and cyberbullying”.

About 670 participants, including youth, former and current teachers, and police officers, participated in the contest, and a total of 14 works were selected as winners, including eight in the drawing category such as posters and webtoons and six in the essay category.

"I participated in the contest hoping that no friends would be hurt by cyberbullying," said Kim Jinsol, a senior at Jinseon Girls' High School in Seoul, who won the Education Minister Award in the drawing category for satirizing the importance of cyberbullying prevention education as a test question, "I will try to create a happy school without violence by practicing small things, such as not using foul language and stopping friends from gossiping," she added.

□ A cumulative total of about 710,000 people educated over 3 years and reflection of government policy tasks

“Blue Elephant (PUCO)” consists of five programs: ∆ Online and group prevention education for elementary, middle, and high school students, ∆ psychological counseling to support emotional stability and recovery of victims, ∆ campaigns to eradicate cyberbullying, ∆ academic research for cyberbullying cause analysis and corresponding countermeasure policies, and ∆ platform building.

“Blue Elephant (PUCO)” began piloting school visits in the second half of 2020, targeting 450 students in 20 classes of 4 schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi province with approximately 94,000 students participating in the first year of the project.

From 2021, education, psychological counseling, and campaigns were expanded nationwide through online and app, reaching a cumulative total of about 710,000 participants in just three years of starting the project.

“Blue Elephant (PUCO)” was selected as a UNESCO 'Official project for Education for Sustainable Development' for its excellence in ∆ policy improvement, ∆ learning environment improvement, ∆ educator competency development, ∆ youth empowerment and participation, and ∆ local-level implementation.

Education for Sustainable Development is education that equips all learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to address global challenges such as human rights, the environment, poverty and inequality.

“Blue Elephant (PUCO)” also publicized cyberbullying as a social problem, and as a result, cyberbullying prevention education has been included in the Ministry of Education's 'School Violence Prevention and Countermeasures Implementation Plan' policy as an implementation task for three years from 2020, and is being taught to students through the Metropolitan and Provincial Offices of Education nationwide, which is another achievement.

□ Plan to educate 3 million people by 2029 through “Blue Elephant (PUCO)”

Through the "Blue Elephant (PUCO)" project, Samsung and the Blue Tree Foundation plan to educate 3 million people on cyberbullying prevention by 2029 to enhance prosocial competencies of youth (honesty, promise, forgiveness, responsibility, consideration, and ownership).

In particular, Samsung Electro-Mechanics executives and employees are actively engaging in activities to eradicate cyberbullying and spread a culture of prevention by participating in cyberbullying prevention campaigns, signing non-violence petitions, and publicizing “Blue Elephant (PUCO)”.

In addition, more than 50 talent donation volunteers have been recruited among executives, employees and their families of Samsung affiliates, including Samsung Electro-Mechanics, to participate in youth cyberbullying prevention activities.

These volunteers are serving as traveling assistant instructors for preventive education and youth mentors, and interacting with students at school sites.

Meanwhile, Samsung is carrying out social contribution activities for win-win cooperation along with youth education under the CSR vision of “Together for tomorrow! Enabling People”.

Youth education-focused activities include ∆ Samsung Youth SW Academy, ∆ Samsung Stepping Stones of Hope, ∆ Samsung Dream Class, ∆ Samsung Junior SW Academy, and ∆ Samsung Smart School, which are programs to help youth reach their full potential.

In addition, Samsung is also carrying out win-win cooperation programs such as ∆ Support for SMEs to convert to smart factories, ∆ C Lab (Inside, Outside), ∆ Creation of mutual growth funds and goods payment support funds ∆ Incentive payments to suppliers, ∆ Samsung future technology development projects, and ∆ ‘Sharing kiosks’.