Letter from New York, Interview: Former KIDA President Eui Yun Kim

Letter from New York

Interview: Former KIDA President Eui Yun Kim

Interviewed and edited by JyaHyun Albert Lee

If we can express one person in one word, it would be “big” for Eui Yun Kim, my former teammate, friend, partner, and archenemy (the kind you hate to love and love to hate). For one, his mere biological being is worthy of the word. His habit of buying “big” for friends and juniors is also famous, as all of us have greatly benefited from his wealth of financial resources and the love to share them. One must be careful as not to miss his ‘exploding’ way of laughing that trembles the ground. Those close to him are also familiar with his big phone, Galaxy Note, that despite its name as the biggest phone on Earth at the time it came out, looked like a normal phone when Eui Yun was using it. One would be surprised to meet someone who does not know this guy in Korea; I would bet money that he will get to know practically everybody on the peninsula by the time of his daughter’s marriage.

But it is not the literal sense of the word “big” that captures the most important features of Eui Yun Kim. It is his enormous and sometimes seemly impossible vision that distinguishes Eui Yun from the rest of us. The expansion of KIDA this year was indeed largely inspired by his vision and enthusiasm. The vision for bigger KIDA presence in Korea debate community lives on today, even after his departure.

Most importantly, however, it is his big heart that we remember most about him. He cares for people in the utmost personal and brother-like way and makes sure that you are appreciated. Sometimes he would have you sit and listen to him talk about how he is sorry and thankful for all the sweat and blood. That was enough to motivate us to work like a demon the next day, not just for him, but for a bigger cause.

It is time that we look back and show our appreciation for Eui Yun. Your vision and hard work for KIDA is now bearing fruit. We thank you and miss you Eui Yun. Come back and work more for KIDA :)

The following is an interview conducted by KIDA Talks on Eui Yun's life in New York. 

Eui Yun, the big guy with big hands as we remember him, victimizing yet another individual at Youth Forum. And yet we love him for some sadomasochistic reason.

Please introduce yourself 

Hi my name is Eui Yun Kim (Also known as Brian or Buffalo Boy). I currently live in New York working at the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA). I was the previous President of KIDA, founder of Kyunghee Debating Society, and over-committed debate, and adjudicator during my college years at Kyung Hee University.

Eui Yun Kim and his UN Headquarters pass

How is work? What are your duties at the organization?

Work is great. It’s an extremely diverse environment with a lot of dynamics going on. As a Youth Program Associate, my role is to plan and implement youth programs for our organization working with youth from all parts of the world. From planning and running youth seminars and forums to managing one of the largest youth networks in the world, I’m having a great time here at WFUNA.

How is life? What do you do in your free time these days? Building another organization?

Life is treating me well. On my free days I meet with friends and enjoy the city life. Quite often, I meet with debate ‘dino-alumni’ and enjoy conversing over past memories. I was pretty surprised to meet a lot of former debaters here in the East coast. Recently I have been offered by the International Debate Education Association (IDEA) in New York to work in the Ad Hoc Development Committee to provide assistance in expanding and strengthening its debate programs.  

Ready to devour a poor piece of pizza

How’s New York? Fabulous nightlife, amazing eateries, and lots of sights to see? What do you like the most about New York?

Fabulous nightlife, amazing eateries, and lots of sights are what I like most about New York. Thanks for nudging an appropriate answer. Other things to add are the neatly organized city planning which makes walking a daily habit and the wildlife you can observe inside the cities including your daily favorites from cockroaches, rats, pigeons, unidentified bugs, big bugs, small bugs, and more bugs. 

As much as I like New York, I would vouch for Seoul because of constant pictures of ‘GoupChang’ Rebecca In Young posts on my Facebook page and the food and people in Korea.

What Eui Yun misses the most about Korea

How does it feel to be working in a professional environment, especially after serving as KIDA President? How did your experience as KIDA President help you in your current position?

Hey! When did KIDA become a non-professional environment? I feel extremely offended.

It feels great working in a professional environment, especially in an organization like WFUNA. People say that the first professional job will affect the path of his/her future jobs. I can understand why. The working environment is very different from the descriptions many of my friends mention of a typical Korean workplace. From work ethics, office culture, and fellow colleagues, I can proudly say that every day is a learning experience and it’s actually fun to go to work every day.

At the office

Roles have changed from KIDA to WFUNA. As the President of KIDA, I was in charge of drawing the big picture and prioritizing the types of programs for the year. It was a different type of responsibility where I was faced with important and difficult decisions to reshape and reform a lot of challenges KIDA faced. Also, a lot had to do with leveraging the different interests of people around me and the members as well. Here in WFUNA, I follow a systemic establishment already built under the organization’ mission with my set of responsibilities. Decisions are made at a higher level and I only need to work in the best interest of our organization. This relieves me from a lot of stress I had before and allows me to focus on my work.

In general, not only as the President of KIDA, but as a debater, it helped me establish a career here. Although I did not believe the number one lie many seniors told me, namely that debate helps your career development, it seems like it does. Through meetings with colleagues and my boss, concise logical expressions on ideas are important to not only keep up but to present a point. Debating and working with debate people was a great warm-up for the professional world where in a short period of time is all you have to make your voice matter. 

The recent KNC was a huge success! Any word for Solbridge or the Champion, your successor?

Solbridge

I had my utmost faith in Solbridge in organizing the event and the CA pool in managing the tournament. Two days have passed and I’ve already received positive feedbacks from the other side of the globe. I thank everyone involved for making this happen, especially JuSeung Yi, Joe Shin, Joe Iesue, Min Jae Kim, and everyone else from SDS.

The Champion

Congratulations (We’ve already had a lengthy congratulatory talk over Kakao Talk)

Get back to work Hyewon Lee! Congrats to Youngcho Lee as well! 

The Successor, Current KIDA President

Get back to work Hyewon! J

When are you coming back? Will you be involved in the debate scene once you come back? People miss you!

I just got here three month ago and am not sure when I will return. But when I do return, I definitely will go back to the debate scene and contribute in whatever way I can. I haven’t really thought of debating, but you never know. Personally, I’d like to participate in a less competitive tournament with my little brother David, hopefully with Hyewon Rho and Minyoung Rho as well. 

Any last word for Korea debate community ?

Dear Korea debate community,

I hope you all had a fun time in KNC. I also hope that you don’t forget my presence, if there was any.

I’m currently having heaps of fun in New York and would like to warmly invite you to this great city sometime in the near future.

Throughout my college life, being a debater and a member of the community cherished my surroundings with great people, experience, and loads of debate stress. I hope that each of you hold on to the passion and excel in your debate and personal pursuance of gaining knowledge and building human relationships.

Thank You!