The KAIST Student Cultural Festival, initially scheduled from November 15 to 17, will be postponed by a week. In a letter sent to the KAIST community via email, the Deans of Student Offices announced the university’s official decision after long discussions with Imagination Effect, the main organizers of the festival, as well as other members of the preparation team. The university concludes that the festival will be moved to November 23 until 25, and will be strictly regulated to control crowd flow. 

This response follows from the recent Itaewon Halloween crowd crush on October 29 which resulted in the deaths of more than 150 people. Prior to this postponement, several events from multiple universities across the country have also been canceled or postponed after the disaster.

Imagination Effect reiterated this decision in an Instagram post on November 9. They explained that it is highly questionable whether holding a concert of normal scale following the Itaewon crowd crush is appropriate, given that festivals typically include celebrity performances that are expected to attract huge crowds. The large proportion of college students in their 20s among the victims of the Itaewon crush was also a factor taken into consideration. As such, Imagination Effect further announced that the postponed Student Festival will be strictly regulated to control the number of attendees, and that it will be held indoors in the Sports Complex (N3) instead of outdoors. Club events and booths will run normally, and Imagination Effect will report any additional changes that are made in the operation of the festival.