Students enjoy a celebrity performance at a university festival. News1
Korean university festivals are increasingly being reshaped around large-scale celebrity performances, sparking growing controversy over their side effects. Critics point to trees that once provided shade for students being cut down, student IDs effectively traded as concert tickets, and the emergence of “errand part-timers” hired to hold front-row spots at performance venues.
According to Yonhap News on Tuesday, complaints have mounted at Korea University over the question, “Why were perfectly healthy trees on campus cut down?” Twelve sycamore trees and a wisteria bench that had stood at Democracy Plaza in front of the student union building were removed last month.
The space was reportedly cleared to install a stage and festival booths for the Daedongje festival, which begins on the 19th. Students criticized the move, saying, “They removed a campus resting area for the sake of a festival,” while the university administration and the student council traded blame, each claiming the other had requested the removal.
As university festivals effectively turn into “large-scale concerts,” competition to book celebrities is heating up. Kyung Hee University reportedly allocated a budget of 220 million won solely for selecting an agency to handle celebrity bookings for its spring Daedongje festival. The service request specified conditions including “top-tier hip-hop artists” and “top-class idols and singers.”
The university explained that the move reflects student demand. A Kyung Hee University official told Yonhap News, “The atmosphere of wanting flashy performances seems to have grown due to the impact of student-organized events being restricted during the COVID-19 period.”
As popular idol performances become the core content of university festivals, the trading of student IDs is also rampant. Posts offering “student ID rentals available” and “ID cards lent together” have been appearing one after another on online spaces such as X (formerly Twitter) and open chat rooms.
As universities restrict outside entry, student IDs have effectively come to function as admission tickets. While outsiders could relatively freely enjoy festivals in the past, an increasing number of schools are reinforcing student ID and identification verification procedures, citing complaints from current students and safety concerns.
However, such controls have instead fueled black-market trading. Cases are spreading in which current students lend out their student IDs for money, or outsiders purchase them to enter festival venues. Student ID rental prices have been formed at 50,000 to 200,000 won per day, with amounts soaring further depending on whether popular idols are performing. Some online posts have even mentioned offers of up to 500,000 won for two-day admission.
Meanwhile, cases have emerged of outsiders memorizing school information just to enter festivals. A graduate of another university, identified as A, who watched the idol group RIIZE perform at Sogang University’s festival on the 14th, said she rented a student ID for 100,000 won. To avoid being caught during the school’s verification, she said she memorized building names, course names and even the university chant (FM).
So-called “line-waiting part-timers” who hold front-row spots at festival venues have also emerged. For popular performances, waiting lines form hours in advance, leading to a steady stream of cases in which people hire waiting part-timers through errand platforms.
Controversy over the infringement of students’ right to study due to the festivals continues. The festival planning committee of Chung-Ang University’s Seoul campus announced that it would distribute 1,500 earplugs at the central library to reduce noise complaints during the festival period.
Both inside and outside university communities, criticism has emerged that “festivals, which used to be part of student community culture, have been excessively distorted into celebrity-centered events.” One college student said, “It now feels like it’s no longer a school festival but practically an idol concert,” adding, “The spaces and culture for students themselves are disappearing.”