Alcohol abuse among college students in South Korea is still rampant, leading to vandalism and assault, a survey showed yesterday

The survey of 77 colleges, conducted by Kim Kawng-kee, director of Inje Centre for Alcohol Studies, found that 59 schools experienced drinking related problems between 2002 and 2005.

The schools reported a total of 359 incidents including 138 assaults, 96 disturbances and 68 cases involving destruction of school property.

"The primary purpose of my research is how aware schools are of issues arising from on-campus alcohol abuse, and what sort of initiatives on the part of universities must be taken to address the issues," Kim told The Korea Herald.

He conducted a written survey of school administrators. "Thus, the cases are just a small portion of what had occurred," he said.

He called for efforts to prevent misuse of alcohol and other harmful substances, as many other countries do.

Kim stressed that Korean schools must act aggressively to tackle problems which have long persisted on campus, sometimes resulting in death.

"The fact that those problems are being repeated implies that this is not a matter to be resolved by an individual, but a matter to be dealt with by schools, through methodical policies," said Kim.

Among schools surveyed, 43.8 per cent said they had school activities sponsored by liquor companies while 41 per cent said their school publications received advertising from alcohol companies.

"Such alcohol-related problems keep surfacing since liquor companies sponsor student activities, such as campus festivals and educational retreats. This should be strictly barred by each school, or else the problems will soon mushroom," he said, stressing the need to develop other programmes such as sports events or cultural activities as an alternative to drinking.

Some experts pointed out that attitudes toward drinking are too relaxed, to the extent that binge-drinking is socially acceptable.

"In my personal view, our society tends to see drinking practices as no big deal, and these ideas are being passed onto students who have just become legally able to drink. This legal right, coupled with the forceful manner of senior students causes them to drink," said Chung Sul-ki, a social welfare professor at ChungAng University.

Experts say problems arising from drinking can be addressed through education and various preventive measures.

"Currently, there is almost no school which conducts a full-scale anti-alcohol policy or regulation. Schools need to recognize the danger of such problems being on the increase. Active efforts to educate students and publicize the dangers of alcohol abuse need to be made," Chung said.