Students from the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy recently won the top prize at the '2022 Future Political Leaders Parliamentary Training Program' debate held at the National Assembly Goseong Training Institute.

Organized by the National Assembly Secretariat, the program is designed to cultivate future political leaders by providing university students interested in politics with training on the functions and roles of the National Assembly, parliamentary democracy, political parties, and related topics.

Now in its fifth year, this year's program, under the theme "Youth: The Power to Transform Politics in Korea," drew 99 university students from 10 universities nationwide, including Jeonbuk National University (JBNU), Kyungpook National University, Kookmin University, Sogang University, Seoul National University, Sookmyung Women's University, Ajou University, Ewha Womans University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and Hanshin University.

At the competition, the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at JBNU, under the guidance of Professor Kyungmi Park, was represented by students including Jeong-chan Lee, Tae-hyun Kim, Tae-hyun Kim, Han-gyeol Park, Areum Kim, Jin-hee Byeon, Yujin An, Hye-jin Jeong, Jun-hyeok Moon, Hyo-ee Byeon, and Yeon-woo Oh.

They determined that conflicts among young people stem from a lack of mutual communication, and they proposed reviving local party branches to broaden channels for political dialogue and to create a forum where diverse social groups can coexist. Their proposal earned them the top prize, the highest honor among the teams from the 10 universities.

Jeong-chan Lee, a student of the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy (Class of 2018) who participated in the debate, said, "It was a meaningful time to share ideas with fellow young people on the topic of youth politics during this parliamentary training. I am especially pleased that after intense debates with teams from other schools, we won the top prize."