Pusan National University (PNU) significantly increased the budget for Daedong-Je this year and hold it on a large scale.

The General Students’ Association (GSA) and the Office of Student Affairs recently announced that the 2024 Daedong-Je will be held for three days from May 28th to 30th at the Siwol Square, the Sports Complex, and the Kyungam Gymnasium. This year’’s Daedong-Je, which has the slogan “大同 (Dae-dong)! Newly together,” will cost a significant amount of budget. An event jointly organized by undergraduate and graduate students will be prepared for the first time.

This year's budget for the Daedong-Je has doubled from last year. According to the project allocation budget released by PNU on April 19th, it is about 300 million won, which is larger than last year’s budget of about 150 billion won. Most of the budget will be devoted to inviting singers for the “Healing Concert” held at 6pm every day during the festival. Lee Chang-Jun (Dept. of Geological Sciences, 22), president of GSA, who is the head of the Daedong-Je TF team, said, “We will make sure that the Healing Concert reflects the opinions of the students as much as possible.”

This year’s Daedong-Je will also provide a venue for exchanges jointly organized by undergraduate and graduate students. Before this festival, PNU graduate school was not involved in the hosting of the Daedong-Je. This year, Choi Kyung-Hwan (Master’s and doctor’s integration course in Dept. of Polymer Science and Engineering, 22), president of the General Graduate Students’ Association, said, “It is the first time in the country that undergraduate and graduate schools will hold a festival together. We are planning to prepare a program to enjoy and share information with each other.”

On May 1st, detailed programs for the Daedong-Je are still in the planning stage. Last month, GSA recruited “Daedong-Je Supporters” and is promoting program planning and operation centered on them. On April 30th, they announced that all 40 booths to participate in the student booth to be held at Siwol Square have been received.

The annual presidential soccer competition and basketball competition are now having preliminary matches to qualify teams for the finals during the Daedong-Je. The soccer final will be held on May 27th at the Sports Complex, and the basketball final will be held on May 28th at basketball courts on Siwol Square.

Reporter You Seung-Hyun

Translated by Seo Ye-Jin