The Paju­si Municipal Chapter in Gyeonggi-do (Head: Kim Gyeong-seon) held the 5th nationwide student patriotism debate contest on the 25th and 26th at Paju English Village for the purpose of establishing a proper view of the state and raising the sense of national security.

The debate contest was co-sponsored by Kyeonggi Ilbo, and around 120 participants who came from all over the nation had a heated debate on pending issues such as North Korea’s nuclear testing, the resulting international situation, and the relations between North and South.

Throughout the contest, four teams composed of five participants each formed a group, and six groups in all debated on the given topic in the form of pro-con debate. A total of 12 undergraduate students from Ajou University participated as mentors.

The topics of the debate were: ■ Is the reform of national defense regarding the change from mandatory military service to voluntary military service necessary at this time? ■Is it all right to postpone wartime operational control redemption? ■Was it the right choice to come to a settlement on the issue of Korean comfort women during the Japanese colonial era? ■Should our generation prepare for the cost of unification? ■Should the Republic of Korea actively accept refugees? ■Is aggressive correspondence toward North Korea’s nuclear experimenting, such as propaganda broadcast to the North, appropriate?