SNU has oldest student council president

Joo Moo-yeol

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Joo Moo-yeol, 30, has been elected as the 57th president of the Student Council of Seoul National University (SNU) along with his 22-year-old runningmate Kim Bo-mi, the school’s student election committee said Wednesday.

Entering SNU in 2004 majoring in physics and astronomy, Joo is the oldest student council president in the history of SNU.

SNU students failed to elect a student council president because of low voter turnout in the last election in November.

The SNU student council bylaw states that voter turnout must exceed 50 percent for the election to be valid.

The re-election was scheduled for three days from April 6, but the period was extended ― the bylaws allow the voting period to be extended twice ― to meet the minimum 50-percent turnout requirement.

The final turnout reached 51.9 percent by the Wednesday deadline.

Joo obtained 4,556 or 50.9 percent of the total 8,951 votes. His rival received 3,790 votes, or 42.3 percent.

Joo will begin a seven-month term from April 19.

The presidency of the SNU student council was vacant for the last seven months since Joo’s predecessor, Lee Kyung-hwan, 29, was expelled from the school in September due to poor academic performance.