Rex Myeonguk Kim

Selected work

Featured

Youth National Assembly — Chairperson of the Political and Legislative Committee

Led 50+ committee members through debates on youth political participation legislation. Ran the legislative voting process and passed the petition with a majority vote.

Civic Engagement

City Youth Council — Chairman

Chairman of the Daejeong Youth Center Operations Committee and Seogwipo Participatory Budget Committee. Represented 13 youth centers across the city and pushed for youth priorities in local budget decisions.

Debate & Policy Proposal

Model United Nations — Head Chair, Representative Speaker, Delegate

Sole representative speaker among 300+ delegates at UN Youth Environmental Conference. Action plan selected for UNEP annual programme. Minister's Award recipient.

Social Impact

S.P.A.R.K. — Student Participating in Action, Reform, and Knowledge

Co-founded a student organization running social impact and cultural preservation projects. Partnering with Harvard Kennedy School on the War Veterans Honor Project. 400+ restaurants joined the kiosk accessibility campaign nationwide.

Research & writing

Publications

SCOPUS Journal

Analysis of Resource Footprint for the Use of Reusable Cups in Island Area Using Life Cycle Assessment

Used ISO 14040/14044 Life Cycle Assessment to measure the resource footprint of reusable vs. disposable cups on Udo Island, Jeju. Found a 7% resource footprint reduction with reusable cups in a closed-loop system handling 630 million single-use cups annually, and identified the break-even use threshold.

View abstract

Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management
2026

Curieux Review

A Comparative Study of Youth Political Agency and the Socio-Cultural Barriers to Legislative Power in Norway and South Korea

Compared youth legislative power across four countries, looking at how institutional design and cultural norms shape whether young people get a real voice. Focused on how Korea's Confucian age hierarchy keeps youth bodies advisory rather than legislative.

View abstract

Independent Research Publication
2026

Research Anthology

The Architectural Paradox of Dabotap: How Silla Craftsmen Mimicked Wooden Structures in Granite

Explored how Silla-era builders carved delicate wooden forms into granite at Dabotap, reading the technique as a statement about Buddhist resilience. Selected for the ISRFA Research Forum Anthology.

Read full text

ISRFA Research Forum Anthology
2026

Essay Competition

The Value of American Thirst

John Locke Essay Competition entry. Traced how Prohibition fueled organized crime, weaving together political philosophy, economics, and history.

Read full text

John Locke Institute
2026

Civic engagement

Policy & advocacy

I grew up every time I chose to speak up — raising questions, facing legislators, standing at the front. These moments taught me that youth is not a limitation but a vantage point.

Representative Speaker

"Cheong-Man-Si" National Assembly Youth Forum

Seoul — 2025

Spoke at the National Assembly youth policy forum on teenage addiction. Debated education reform face-to-face with lawmakers including Congressman Jo Kyoung-tae. Pitched a prevention model centered on student agency and mental resilience.

Youth Representative & Speaker

Korea-Japan Diplomatic Normalization 60th Anniversary Student Forum

Jeju — 2025

Presented on the feasibility of a Korea-Japan Free Trade Agreement. Broke down trade barriers in agriculture and SMEs and proposed a roadmap toward bilateral "Collective Prosperity."

International School Representative & Speaker

UNESCO Internationally Designed Areas Vision Forum

Jeju — 2025

Gave a keynote on ecological ethics through Fromm and Heidegger, arguing for a shift from consumption to "being." Classmates went on to start environmental action projects after the talk.

Participant — YMCA President Award

Seoul YMCA Youth International Policy Forum

Seoul — 2026

Studied soft power and cultural heritage repatriation under a Korea University IR professor. Turned lecture material into concrete policy proposals. Received the YMCA President Award.

Field Volunteer & Civil Participant

2026 South Korean Local Elections Democratic Advocacy

Seoul — June 2026

Coordinated civilian operations on the ground during mass demonstrations in Jamsil after the ballot paper shortage crisis. Helped hundreds of citizens organize around electoral transparency and voting rights.

Youth Leader

Future Leaders Open Camp — National Election Commission

Seoul — 2025

Attended a camp run by the National Election Commission. Studied electoral systems and voter engagement, then drafted policy manifestos and ran mock election campaigns.

Varsity athlete

Athletics

Volleyball

Setter

Champion — 2024 Jeju Invitational Tournament
Champion — 2024 Korea International Schools Activities Conference
Champion — 2024 Asia International Schools Athletics
2nd Place — 2025 Jeju Invitational Tournament
3rd Place — 2025 Korea International Schools Activities Conference

Soccer

Goalkeeper

MVP — 2024 Korea International Schools Activities Conference
Starting goalkeeper with high save rate
Directed defensive formations in competitive matches

Honors

Awards & recognition

Minister's Award

UN Youth Environmental Conference

Ministry of Climate, Energy & Environment

President's Award

2nd SOLEIL Model United Nations

National Unification Advisory Council

Best Chair

UN Youth Future Summit by YMCA

YMCA

Mayor's Award

Seogwipo Outstanding Youth Award

Seogwipo City

Grand Prize (President's Award)

4th International Youth Idea Competition on Korea's UNESCO Heritage

Association of Korea Cultural Heritage Utilization

Human Rights Award

8th Classroom Legislature Competition

National Assembly

YMCA President Award

Seoul YMCA Youth International Policy Forum

Seoul YMCA

National Champion

Young Reporters for the Environment

YRE Korea

Bronze & Silver Award

Duke of Edinburgh International Award

Duke of Edinburgh Foundation

Academic experience

Education

Pre-College Student — Final Grade: A

University of Chicago Summer Session

Chicago, USA — Summer 2026

Seminars on political economy, fascism, and critical theory. Read Alfred Sohn-Rethel, Robert Paxton, and other political thinkers.

Student

Harvard Secondary School Program

Boston, USA — Summer 2026

University-level international relations — realism, liberalism, security dilemmas, power politics, and how international institutions work.

Class of 2027

Korea International School Jeju

Jeju, Republic of Korea

AP Seminar, AP Psychology, AP Comp Gov, AP U.S. History, AP Lang & Comp, AP Macro & Micro Economics, AP Statistics, AP Research, AP U.S. Gov

Scholar

edX Online Courses — Harvard University

Online — 2024

Completed "Justice" (HarvardX) and "Global Politics" — foundational moral and political philosophy.

Personal

About me

“

Where there's a will to bridge the gap between youth voice and legislative power, there's a way to build it.

KIS Jeju, Class of 2027. I chair the Youth National Assembly's Political and Legislative Committee, publish in SCOPUS-indexed journals, and keep showing up wherever youth voice meets real policy.

Off the clock, I'm a three-time volleyball champion (varsity setter), an MVP goalkeeper, and I have perfect pitch — which comes in handy more often than you'd think.

Languages

English Korean Spanish

Interests

Politics Political Philosophy History SDGs