KIM Bo-mi won the election getting 86.8% support after she came out.
Seoul National University’s student body election on November 16th through 19th had a successful voter turnout for the first time in 18 years. While past elections were at risk of being canceled due to marginal participation, this year, the “Detail” party won with 53.3%. The party’s controversial presidential candidate, Kim Bo Mi, won by a landslide with 86.8%.
Although on the surface, it may seem like a sudden democratic spirit has seized the students, there could be other reasons contributing to the unprecedented result. One such reason could be the Christian community’s response to the announcement made by the student running for president.
Kim professed mid-campaign that she is a lesbian, and explained her vision of a supportive environment, in which everyone can be himself or herself, free of judgment from peers and society.
Due to the unique circumstance of her “coming out,” the campaign pledges of her party, Detail, was under careful scrutiny. Under the party’s section titled “Clean Campus,” Detail promised to create pleasant campus space by eliminating unwarranted presence of solicitors, including but not limited to missionaries and evangelists. Minor regulations included preventing competitive clubs from putting up club activity posters all over the campus.
Reactions to the party’s proposition to prevent presence of religious solicitors on campus began popping up in social media, such as Facebook and Kakao. Members of the Christian community continually raised concerns that the school was putting forth extra effort to secularize the campus. From unknown sources, Kakao texts read “A homosexual is running for office for SNU student body representative. If this student body president gets elected, evangelism will be prohibited, so we must pray. Pass this onto at least five people.”
After much heated debate, Detail was asked to clarify why the party’s specific mention of religious solicitors was necessary. The exact title of the sub-section of the campaign is “Restricting Beginning of the Year/Semester Evangelism.”
“There are two main reasons how the evangelists on campus cause displeasure. The first is their stubbornness. If a student rejects the religious solicitor, they often do not drop the question and continue to probe. Even when the students say that they are Christians themselves, they ask if the students know ‘what redemption is’. The second reason is that these evangelists do not reveal their affiliations and simply state that they are ‘sunbae’. They do not explain what club or organization they are from, and simply claim seniority as a campus ‘sunbae’ for their ends.”
Mass texts were sent calling for action, while others urged the Christian voters to simply not cast their vote. In response to the Christian community, students with no religious affiliation began to protest as well by asking other students to stand up to vote. Non-religious students feared that the other party may win solely based on the Christian’s active rejection of Detail’s proposition on campus evangelism.
The election is over, and the outcome is indisputable, but the surprising amount of voter attendance has led some students and campaigners to look back on the possible causes of the unexpected result.
Written by Ho Jung Annie Hwang, SNU English Editor, annieohan@snu.ac.kr
Reviewed by Eli Park Sorensen, SNU Professor of Liberal Studies, eps7257@snu.ac.kr