The competitive Undergraduate Student Council elections on November 23 gave victory to Do Han Kim and Seung Hwan Kim of All in One, making them KAIST’s 26th Undergraduate Student Council President and Vice President, respectively.

With what purpose did you come forward as candidates?
After the tragic events in spring, we thought deeply about the things we could do to change KAIST, given our positions. We were both student representatives in our respective departments and although there were some things we could do to make a better KAIST, as we wanted to achieve more we noticed limitations that we had at our positions. Thus we decided to run for the Undergraduate Student Council elections to make meaningful changes on a larger scale. We want to change KAIST with our experience in working with the Student Council and ability to mingle with people.

All in One was elected as the 26th Undergraduate Student Council. Would you like to say a few words on the outcome?
Though the two of us worked hard to achieve such positions, there are many people who have helped and supported us. It is because of them that we could come this far without giving up, so we would like to thank them. Also, the other candidates acquired only a little fewer votes than we did. We will take this fact modestly and work even harder so that the other candidates can come to support us.

All in One promised to make KAIST the way students want it to be. What do you think KAIST students want?
What our fellow students want can be divided into three large groups. First, student interests and rights need to be kept. Second, active communication has to play a part, and third, a student council that can listen and put together the voices of the 4,000 undergraduate students to fulfill their needs and wants is needed. We want All in One to go in this direction so that students can enjoy university life.

How are you planning to communicate with all the undergraduate students?
Looking at it more abstractly, we think that KAIST is a place where creative minds and gifted students gather to do whatever they want without worry. Whether it is music, research, art, their major or anything else, KAIST is a place where all of our creativity can reach the highest potential; we believe that communication is the key to making such a creative and harmonious KAIST. Therefore, we would like to make effective use of our experiences working as the student representatives of our departments. Other universities have their departments’ student representatives function as their communication centers. We could also make a strong communication bond by making the student representatives in each department more active and systematic so that the process of gathering 4,000 voices can be more effective. Meeting all 4,000 students would be nice, but it would also be ineffective.

Of the commitments you made, which ones do you personally consider as most important? Please explain briefly about you plan.
We think that the creation of a Regent Housecouncil where students can get involved and stand up for their rights is important. We need a system where student opinion can be actively reflected upon. With this in mind, we will work hard to make a productive system.

Also, having fixed and periodical meetings between administrative offices and the Student Council is crucial. We believe that both the students and the university want to be proud of KAIST. In this perspective, we would like to go with the school, not against them. We will try our best to compromise and talk with the school to walk in the direction that both the students and the school aim toward. If under certain circumstances there is a need for us to step up and make our thoughts clear, we will do anything to accomplish that.

As for the commitments, all of the commitments were made by extensively collecting the opinions of KAIST students. Therefore we cannot be sure that they are the best. Since we respect the commitments proposed by the other two candidates, we will have meetings about the matter to select the ones to make a promising Student Council.

How will you go through unexpected difficulties during your term?
In case of difficulties we will need the help of fellow students. Also, we will talk with the organizations that help to lead KAIST such as the Central Steering Committee and the Autonomous Committee. We need to show that KAIST students can unite together to overcome obstacles. In this way, both the school and outsiders can understand the thoughts of KAIST’s students. Also, we would like to make a Student Council Advisory Committee to listen to the advice of people who are more experienced. We realize, however, that we are the ones who need to make the final decisions. Therefore we will have frequent conversations with each other, develop our decision-making ability and learn how to handle crises. We will read many related books and practice how to deal with different situations. We will put this into action right now.

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