For a particular action to qualify as bullying, it needs to meet 3 criteria:

• It is conducted with negative intention
• It is repeated overtime
• It is based on the power imbalance between the bully and the victim.

To understand bullying in South Korea, one needs to first understand the particular cultural context in this country. One of the most commonly used cultural dimension scale is the Hofstede cultural dimension, which measures countries on 6 different criteria. In the next few sections, we will examine how collectivism, competitiveness, and relationships with peers, parents and teachers interact with bullying and victimization in the South Korean context.