Interview: Champions of Fall KNC, 2012

KIDA TALKS Interview: 

Champions of Fall KNC, 2012

In Daejeon in September, the trophy was handed to EDiS. We hear from the Champions the stories of KNC. So, who’s next?

GRAND CHAMPIONS - EDiS 1(Hyewon Lee and Young Cho Lee)

Q: Please Introduce yourself

Hyewon: I am Hyewon Lee, current KIDA president, originally from EDiS. I was a debater and Champion of this 11th KNC. I loved this tournament both debate and non-debate- wise, and at the end of this KNC, it feels like I have ran a good marathon - long enduring trip but every step counted.

Q: Debate with which team was unforgettable to you?

Hyewon: For me, it was the semi-final round between KU1, CUDS1, KU 5 and of course EDiS 1. It was probably the toughest and highest quality round. I was very nervous so could not be concise and I rapped for like seven and half minutes. It was definitely one of the best rounds at this KNC. On a side note, the round I enjoyed the most was my Quarter-final where all the debaters talked about anal sex and condoms breaking very seriously so when the video of this round were uploaded on YouTube, it was censored for underage viewers.

Young Cho: It was UU1 (Sung Ryul Park and Yoonji Ko). In the time machine debate we were OG they were CO. (We got fourth, they got first.) I really liked their extension.

Q: Who was the hottest CAP?

Hyewon: Not sure if it’s in the usual sense of ‘hot’ but still, JuSeung Lee – I loved how he was so mild when he made announcements and that time nobody understood what he was trying say and yet he was just smiling through all the stress behind the announcement podium with his curly hair. I asked him a while ago that his hair gets curlier and curlier every day and his reaction was “it’s all because of KNC stress, the more stress I get, the curlier it gets”.

Young Cho: Ji Yoon Son, not because she’s EDiS but objectively. J

Q: What do you think is the strength and weakness of your team? (Superior appearance? Attractive voice? Or born to be debater? Etc.)

Hyewon: I always stress upon how teammates have to be dynamic. My definition of dynamic is complementary, two opposites of each other to be the perfect pair. To a certain extent my teammate and I are quite similar in our stamina and greed for debate, but mostly, when I hear Youngcho’s speech, she has this amazing talent of picking out all the juicy stuff out of my speech and adding much better stuff I haven’t yet done. I think as a BP team, Youngcho and I are quite complete – hopefully more complete before NEAO comes.

Young Cho: I guess our biggest strength was that we are both quite persistent so we would practically talk about one idea for hours or study one thing until we really got it. The team sessions we had really paid off; all the extensions we made during KNC were practically from the conversations we had during team sessions. Weakness was that we are both bad at OG because neither one of us are the ‘PM’ type.

Q: What were the best and worst motions?

Young Cho: I liked all motions in general but I guess the time machine motion would be the worst because we were OG and got fourth. The whole concept of time machine is too hypothetical to build a good model in fifteen minutes. The rest were all good (really), but a memorable motion would be the religious hate speech motion, since EDiS debated that motion in our last session before KNC, which was the day before KNC. 

Q: How did you start debating?

Hyewon: I’m not a Rookie champion but nevertheless I’m gonna answer this anyway.

Debate for me was always something far away because I was a biology geek back in high school. I had no interest at all about debating, debaters, overseas tournaments and what have you. All it took for me was a A4 size piece of EDiS poster buried under many other ads for other clubs – without much thought I just said ‘eh, why not’. That’s how my obsession began and maybe this is not such a new story of how many of you started debating – curiosity. But I don’t think enough emphasis is put on how valuable that curiosity is in debate and in life in general. I don’t think curiosity is something that sparks and goes, but something that should and does stay with me throughout.

The most frequently asked question for oldie debaters like me are perhaps this “how did you start debating” and “how can I become a good debater?”. I think with all honesty, my magic key is this curiosity of ‘why-not’. It made me open to new ideas, to look up and dig anything I do not yet know and to challenge and debate against conventional wisdoms and common senses. It’s this question that sparked my debate life but more crucially, fuels all my passion for debate even until now.

Young Cho: My brother is also a debater from KU and a former KNC champion. He debated since high school and I also had many debater friends in high school, who all played a part in me joining EDiS.

Q: What is your goal as a debater from now on?

Hyewon: As a debater, I’ve officially and happily retired from KNC (no, I am really not going to come back I promise, I’ll find some other tournament to obsess about if that thirst for debate bugs me). So my goal would be to grow old with other oldie debaters, do the usual – help train my juniors and be the adjudication safety-net for them, ramble on about my previous debate life and all the tournaments and growl at my juniors that they can do better than that, just like what our parents do. Oh, but before that, most important thing, I have NEAO to go to final to, then I will retire.

As KIDA president, my biggest goal would of course be to end the year successfully and without trouble. This year’s KIDA secretariat, are definitely one of the top hearts and brains of KIDA and I want to maximize what I can do with these wonderful people. Yes, that means work, people.

 Young Cho: I guess I want to show consistent good performance in international tournaments as well.

EFL Champions – SDS 3 (Kangsan Kim and Adil Arystangaliyev)

Q: Would you briefly introduce yourself?

Kangsan: Hi. I’m Kangsan Kim from Solbridge Debate Society, EFL champion in 11th KNC. It has been a year since I started debate. I like people in debate society and that makes me  keep debating.

Adil: Hello, my name is Adil Arystangaliyev, I come from the city of Almaty, Republic Of Kazakhstan. I am currently on my last year of BBA program at SolBridge International School of Business and my major is finance. I think that KIDA National Championship is the most prestigious debate tournament in South Korea and I was very glad to have a chance to participate in it. I enjoyed meeting and debating with the brightest minds of Korean Debate Society and I am proud to represent my country on the highest level.

Q: How did you construct your team and your role?

Kangsan: Adil and I were good friends even before I started debate. Now both of us are in the debate team so we became a team. We practiced in a mini tournament and we set our roles after the tournament.

Adil: Although I did participate in Spring KNC 2012, this time was my first to debate in BP style in a big tournament, so I caught a lot of things along the way. Our team basically tried to make things simple and logical, with hard stance. We tried to do our best in terms of engagement both in the opposite side and in the opening house if we were closing part. My role as a PM and MG was to deliver our main constructive case with possible engagement into opponent’s case and leave a room to discuss things more for my teammate.

Q: What do you think is the strength and weakness of your team? (Superior appearance? Attractive voice? Or born to be debater? etc….)

Adil: I think that main strength of our team was that our team is international. In this sense, we have always spoke English when we trained and prepared for KNC. So we got used to it and didn’t have problems with public speaking skills or understanding each other under the time pressure.

I can’t talk about the main weakness of our team, because it is individual thing. As for me, my main problem is that I always strive towards perfection. Whatever I do, I love doing it very well and if I don’t, it really bothers me. In the sense of debate, where you have to think, create a case and most importantly negotiate with your teammate under certain time limit, it is a certainly a disadvantage. However, I am glad that it didn’t become a big obstacle on our way to the victory.

Q: What is your further goal as a debater from now on?

Adil: My goal as a debater is to increase my soft skills, such as communication, public speaking skills and persuading skills in order to succeed in a corporate world. Also, debating positively influences my critical thinking, which is very important feature for an adult in today’s world. The ability to analyze things well in a logical and timely fashion and present your opinion to others seems to be the brilliant part of my portfolio, when I walk out of the classroom at the end of the day.

Q: Is there any special system or training that we can share together?

Adil: My precious coaches Joshua Park, Joe Iesue and Sarabeth Trujillo prepared me greatly. The most important thing in debate is obviously constant practice, but what also matters is a research and working on organizing of the speech structure. Also I want to thank our debate society founder, JuSeung Yi for his support and help in debate trainings.

Q: What was the best and the worst motion at KNC? Tell us your stories!

Kangsan: For me, the best motion was EFL final motion, about Apple and Samsung’s fighting, “THBT Apple’s victory over Samsung will do more harm than good for society.” I am a big fan of Apple and Adil is a big fan of Samsung. We always argued about that in the room. (By the way, Adil and I are roommates in dormitory) When I saw the motion for the final round, the motion was so interesting. But unfortunately, we were on government side so I had to criticize Apple too much.

The worst motion was about ICJ, “THW ban the clause in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that requires the consent of states to go to trial.” I didn’t have enough knowledge about ICJ and we are opening government. Moreover, Adil is foreigner and he doesn’t know about Dokdo Island. It was tough.

Adil: I think my best motion was the EFL Final motion, “THBT Apple’s victory over Samsung will do more harm than good for society”. I was happy to be able to utilize knowledge that I got from my classes in SolBridge, especially New Business Development and Technology Strategy. I think a lot of people that came to support our team have noticed that I gave specific examples on the theory of development of new technologies in the market. I got those from my entrepreneurship classes.

My worst motion on KNC happened to be “THW institute minimum human quota in manufacturing corporations.” We were closing government and our opening part decided to choose totally different concept of the case. Of course opposition has pointed out contradiction right away, although everybody understood that we had no other choice. However, that was very interesting and fun debate, I really appreciate this kind of cases, because it gives you understanding that anything can happen and enables to deal with the situation, no matter what.

Q: During KNC, What was your team’s unforgettable funny episode?

Kangsan: Break night! Our team didn’t expect at all that we would break. Members in our society told me that we broke. I really couldn’t believe even when they talked to me. It was really shocking moment for our team.

Adil: The funniest thing happened to be the break night, because me and my teammate didn’t expect the break, it was quite sudden so at first we couldn’t believe in it J

Q: Who did you find the hottest at Fall KNC?

Adil: I think the hottest girls come from Ewha Univ., they definitely make the tournament more interesting.

Q: Debate with which team was unforgettable to you?

Kangsan: When we were in closing government, opening government went to wrong way. Our team thought we couldn’t help but knife them. Judge said that we should have not knifed them and we asked what we can do for future. I didn’t mean to criticize them when I asked what I can do in the future in similar situation. After the round, the OG team came and said. “Sorry.” I didn’t mean that. Anyway, that team was unforgettable. They were a kind team.

Adil: We debated with a lot of great teams, but I think that the most interesting debate was Grand Final, both EFL and listening to the main final.

Q: Who did you think was the most inspiring speaker at KNC?

Kangsan: Jeesoo Kang. It was the first time I listened his speech in main final round. It was funny, entertaining, and easily understandable. After that, I really wanted to have that ability.

Adil: The most inspiring speaker for me is Jeesoo Seth Kang, his speech is so ‘artistic.’ J He can entertain and drag attention of the audience. I wish I can speak like him one day.

Q: Who was the hottest CAP?

Kangsan: Ji Yoon Son!

Q: Who was the most inspiring adjudicator?

Kangsan: I don’t remember her name. She saw me from the past in the rounds so she saw my improvements. She encouraged me a lot.

Adil: Eui Yun Kim. I liked his adjudication for me. Although he was adjudicating in last KNC, I want to give him credit here.

Q: How did you start debating? What is your goal as a debater from now on?

Adil: I started debating only last semester and it is second time for me to participate in KNC. My goal from now on is to keep the success I have reached and try to improve myself over the constant practice.

Q: Any word for Korea Debaters?

Adil: I would like to thank KIDA organization for your titanic job! Many thanks to you! You are the flagship of Korean Debate Society. Keep on great motivating spirit and I really hope that your efforts will do good in your life in terms of personal growth, networking and unforgettable lovely memories.

   ROOKIE CHAMPIONS – SNUDA 7 (Yonghwan Chee, Hanho Lee)

Q: Would you briefly introduce yourself?

Yonghwan: My name is Yonghwan Chee. I am a junior economics major in Seoul National University (SNU). I was this KNC’s rookie champion! I have enjoyed talking with others ever since I can remember and have found debating to be so much fun!

Hanho: My name is Hanho L. from SNU, and I’ve been fortunate enough to become the Rookie Champion at the 11th KNC. I currently major in design; perhaps not the most common major for a debater. As any other debaters mostly are, I too am very talkative, I remember my teachers saying that I was either sleeping or chattering during my years in high school (or in Azeroth, for those of you who know). And as old habits die hard, I somehow think that that trait is living through college; as I do not recall being called for attendance in any of my morning classes.

Q: How did you construct your team and your role?

It was like five days before KNC. We did one mock debate together and thought ‘Well, this is okay.’ So we decided to become a team. For the role, Hanho was the second speaker because he is really good at rebutting. Yonghwan became the first speaker because Hanho was the second speaker.

Q: What do you think is the strength and weakness of your team?

Thinking about it, all the female adjudicators did give us 1st place (thank you ladies). So we probably do have superior appearances. Weakness is that because of our jealousy-provoking looks, male adjudicators tend to be harsher on us.

Q: What is your further goal as a debater from now on?

Grand Champions! Or as far as our ability and luck take us.

Q: Is there any special system or training that we can share together?

Doing a lot of debate and trying to figure out what went wrong on that debate. If you do that, you start to see some mistakes occurring continuously.

Q: What was the best and the worst motion at KNC? Tell us your stories!

The time machine was the most fun for sure. We felt it was a nice awakener for the sleepy debaters like us. We had to debate with 3 UU teams with Mr. Hume as the adjudicator. We did a decent job and had a lot of fun. Fortunately we actually got 1st place on that debate. So that was very surprising and thus memorable.

Q: Who did you find the hottest at Fall KNC?

Us. Probably the reason why we became the rookie champ.

Q: Who did you think was the most inspiring speaker at KNC?

Personally, Seth Kang. When I heard his speech during the main final, I thought ‘So that’s the speaker that has mastered both style and matter. I have so much to learn.’

Q: Who was the hottest CAP (Including the Convener, just for fun)?

Since we are not gay, we have to choose the female CAP, Ji Yoon Son.

Q: How did you start debating? What is your goal as a debater from now on?

Yonghwan: I started debating for two reasons. First, I had some friends in SNUDA who recommended the whole debating and KNC. Second, I have always enjoyed debating and communicating with others before I joined SNUDA. My goal as a debater is to improve to a point where I can just enjoy myself when I debate. Instead of worrying about time management, elaboration, etc., I want to have fun when I stand on the podium.

Hanho: I was more of a MUNer(Model United Nations) than a debater back in high school (which is why I got to maintain my rookie status at KNC). Nevertheless, I enjoyed forensics. But starting from the point I decided on my current major, design, I had no justification for my parents to support me in future forensics contests. As to, I had to give up on forensics since my sophomore years in H.S. College, not having to worry about admissions or justification, seemed like the perfect opportunity to rediscover my old hobby and dreams.

Q: Any word for Korea Debaters?

Hope to get to know you guys better in other KNCs or KIDA related events because all of you did inspire us.

Courtesy: EDiS 1, SDS 3 and SNUDA 7