KYOTO -- Students' use of cell phones has come under scrutiny here after a junior high school girl's defamatory comments on a cell phone-based blog left a 15-year-old classmate suffering from depression, education officials said.

The girl and other people involved have apologized to the third-year classmate, but he has still reportedly not returned to classes at his junior high school in Kyoto's Fushimi-ku.

The Kyoto Municipal Board of Education has accepted the incident as a case of bullying.

"If cell phones are used incorrectly, they can become weapons," an education board representative said. "We want to provide guidelines through school education or other means."

Officials said the male classmate moved to the school on Oct. 9. From Oct. 13, parties including the female classmate reportedly began writing defamatory messages on a cell phone blog that the victim had set up, calling him "stupid," and "a facial lethal weapon." On Oct. 22, they demanded that he shut down the site, telling him that he would be forced to pay 1.5 million yen if he didn't comply.

The same day, the teen's mother contacted the school, and the following day, she brought the matter to the attention of police. Afterwards, the female student reportedly went to the 15-year-old's home to apologize.

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