Chaos and misunderstanding swept over the KAIST community when posts regarding a homeless man residing within the Natural Science Building (E6) surfaced on Twitter. A subsequent tweet claiming that the “homeless man” was, in fact, merely a graduate student from the Department of Chemistry went viral — however, corrections by the Department of Chemistry soon rectified the misinformation, stating that the trespasser was not attending KAIST.

The initial complaint stated that a homeless man had been roaming the seminar and lecture rooms on the first floor of the Natural Science Building, “emanating stench” and “overall being a bad influence on the quality of the lecture halls”. The author described the man as wearing black or dark-colored clothes, having a chubby stature, and being recognizable by his bad odor when nearby. He requested that any witness immediately contact the campus police. He also warned that the homeless man, as a graduate of the Department of Chemistry, has a thorough knowledge of the layout of the building; the man in question also had been sleeping and eating food in rooms belonging to other departments. He finally advised students and faculty to lock the windows and the doors when exiting a public facility.

After a stream of similar complaints, the administrative staff and the Safety and Security Team (SST) addressed the problem. They requested help from the Department of Chemistry due to the intruder having once been a student of the department.

The situation went viral when a Twitter user posted an “official announcement” from the SST that the man had actually been a graduate student currently attending KAIST, mistaken due to his unkemptness. According to the post, the SST recommended all graduate students to wash and professors to allow the students to return home at least twice a week. Many students used the situation to lament and lampoon the “overworked realities” of graduate students that even lead them to be mistaken as homeless. The story gained popularity outside of the KAIST community when the Korean media outlet Insight published and presented the contents of the tweet as an announcement from the school.

However, department representative HyunTae Jung posted a correction on the KaDaejeon Facebook page on May 4. He stated that while it was true that the SST had asked for the department’s cooperation in the investigation and that the man had been an undergraduate from the department, he was no longer a member of the institution. The Twitter user released a statement explaining that the tweets had been a joke and had not intended them to be taken as factual. He apologized for causing the misperception and took down the original tweets. Jung confirmed that the situation was indeed real and for students to report the presence of the man if seen. He also formally demanded Insight to amend the article and apologize for the false reporting. As of May 9, the article has been updated with the correct information.

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