On January 20, Korea University Student Union (KUSU) of both Seoul and Sejong Campuses held a press conference reprimanding the actions of the Tuition Fee Committee in the Central Plaza. With the slogan “Students are not ATMs!,” the protesters, under the delegation of the newly formed KU Tuition Joint Response Special Committee, rebuked KU’s unilateral decision to increase tuition for graduate students and foreign undergraduates.

KU’s Tuition Fee Committee has announced on January 17 that tuition for graduate students would increase by 1.6 percent, and foreign undergraduates would see an increase of 7 percent. Such decisions sparked controversy due to the furtiveness of the decision process, with students claiming that they are not being represented. The school also has not presented an accessible ledger denoting how tuition fees are utilized.

Students have also accused KU of deliberately burdening foreign undergraduates with the most precipitous rates of tuition increase, as they have no official delegation that represents their views to the school. “KU is simply burdening foreign students, who have little representation in the school, to secure financial resources,” KUSU commented in the protests.