On September 14, the KAIST Student & Minority Human Rights Committee (HRC) was met with controversy after the first lecture of the annual KAIST Human Rights Week was held. The controversy spread mainly through the online student community on Everytime after it was revealed that the invited lecturer had previously made male-derogatory remarks. The community was flooded with demands for an explanation from the HRC.

The lecturer at the center of the dispute was Hye Lin Bang, currently the head of the Counseling & Advocacy team at the Center for Military Human Rights Korea, presenting about “Women and military service”. Bang allegedly posted a misandrist comment on her personal Facebook account in 2015 while criticizing the production intent and promotion of a TV show that remodeled houses into a “space of their dreams” for men without the agreement of their spouses. Questions about the appropriacy of inviting a speaker who had made a potentially problematic statement arose. In addition, it was also reported that the representative of the backlash protest team Haeil, which participated in the booth event, had also made male-offensive comments by chat. 

Complaints about the HRC itself in managing the Human Rights Week programs also formed part of the criticism. The schedule of the special lectures was announced on the KAIST Portal only a day before the date of the first lecture, whereas announcements used to be made around a week in advance for preceding Human Rights Weeks. Prior registration was required to attend the lecture without explicitly receiving consent to collect and use personal data, and students claimed that not all those who registered were allowed into the meeting for the first lecture. This led some to suspect that the HRC was aware that the presentation may be contentious.

However, what fueled the controversy was the HRC’s delayed response toward the requests for an explanation about the process of selecting the speakers and the restriction of student participation in the lectures. Anonymous users on Everytime revealed that they had addressed these issues to the HRC and its chairperson directly after as well as through shortly following the event, but had not received a proper reply. The HRC’s official statement was posted on September 18, after the end of the Human Rights Week. The statement explained that the first announcement about the Human Rights Week on September 10 was not posted on the Portal, but on the Center for Ethics and Human Rights (CEHR) website, which may have been a source of misunderstanding. According to the HRC, the purpose of the prior registration was to ensure the safety and privacy of participants and the lecturer by only allowing those confirmed as KAIST members to attend the presentation, especially as cases of “Zoombombing” are increasing. Yet no clarification on the central issue of the invited speaker was given, stating that they would “fully discuss the relevant matters with the CEHR before further explanation” after the upcoming Chuseok holidays.

Many students expressed discontent at the continued delay. Despite continued inquiries even after Chuseok through channels such as the official Kakaotalk open chat and the Student Representative Meeting held on September 30, the HRC returned, “To approach the subject carefully, discussions are continuing within the HRC and with CEHR, as well as seeking advice from experts such as external professors. It is difficult to set a deadline.” While the HRC apologized for a lack of a follow-up, detailing the progress of discussions on October 8, the announcement of their final official statement was once again postponed to the fourth week of October. Although there were few opinions expressing that canceling the lecture for one past remark would be excessive, these users also seemed to agree that the HRC should have taken a more timely action. 

Criticism of the HRC and its attitude in responding to the queries are continuing to be made even after weeks since the issue was raised. While gender discrimination and feminism are emerging as sensitive topics, especially on these online platforms, the recent events and the resulting division between groups of students come across as defeating the purpose of the Human Rights Week. It seems that a prompt and satisfactory response to the ongoing dissent is needed.