Kyung Hee Univ. Global Campus cancels annual festival over student president's alleged corruption

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Kyung Hee Univ. Global Campus cancels annual festival over student president's alleged corruption

Published: 17 May. 2023, 11:23 Updated: 17 May. 2023, 11:36

Kyung Hee University's Global Campus [KYUNG HEE UNIVERSITY]

Kyung Hee University's Global Campus in Suwon, Gyeonggi, canceled its annual festival amid allegations that the student council president awarded contracts based on his personal ties.

The announcement came in a statement shared on Wednesday on the university student club association's Instagram account. The festival was to run from May 22 to May 24.

There will be no celebrity performances and student booths, but performances by student clubs will still be held at a separate stage prepared by the association.

The 150-million-won ($112,000) university budget allocated for the spring festival will be transferred and used in the fall semester.

The annual festival hosted at Kyung Hee University's Seoul Campus, running between May 24 and 26, will take place as planned.

The cancellation follows allegations that the student council president had personal ties to the celebrity casting agency selected for the festival.

According to the student club association, there is currently no casting agency that signed a contract for this year's festival. However, the student council president mentioned during a meeting that a casting agency is "already decided in advance," with the remaining members of the council or student club association not getting any details.

The casting agency is accused of having gone ahead with casting for the festival. A notice was uploaded on singer Paul Kim's fan café that he will be performing at the university's festival on Global Campus on May 24.

The student council president said in a statement that he doesn't have personal ties to any of the casting agencies the council communicated with. He added he did say an agency was "already decided" in the said meeting, but only because he thought one agency was better than the others.

The university's student club association and student representatives from the colleges on the campus impeached the current student council president Tuesday night.

The date of the vote on the impeachment has not been announced yet.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]