St Petersburg University student Lee Biyeonghyun talks about the Korean Students Club, genetic engineering, and choosing Russia to get a degree at the University

Could you please tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Why did you decide to study in Russia? What programme have you been studying and how many years have you been studying this programme?

I am from Pyeongtaek City. It is located south of Seoul and you can get there by subway. Unfortunately, I do not know how things are now there. Recently, the city has been undergoing a major reconstruction. The village where I lived when I was a child no longer exists. You can only see it on photographs. Last year, I went to Korea for the first time in three years and got lost in my hometown several times. My mother showed me the city and how it had changed. During such a "tour", I told her: ‘Now I feel like a foreigner here and there’.

I am a fourth-year student in biology at St Petersburg University. It is difficult to explain in a nutshell why I decided to study abroad. Yet the reason why I chose Russia is quite simple. Although Russia is a country quite close to Korea, it is psychologically far away for Koreans. We knew little about Russia. This uncertainty spurred interest in me.

How did you hear about the Club for Korean students of Russian universities and why did you decide to join it?

I have known the Korea−Russia Dialogue Forum for a long time. Its administrative office is very close to our department. I could not get past their sign: the flags of Korea and Russia. I went and got acquainted with the management of the forum.

I learned about the club only in January, having received an e-mail. I thought, why not join? Then, I became deputy chairperson, but that’s another story.

Do you hang out with guys from Korea outside the club? How many members are in the club today?

I didn’t have an extended network of connections with Korean students in Russia. There is a generally accepted opinion among Korean students abroad: if you go to another country and are in the company of your fellow citizens, your language level is unlikely to improve. I thought that this might be true and therefore decided to get by with minimal communication with Koreans in Russia.

As for the number of members of our club, it is still difficult to answer, since the club has just been created. Now, it has about 30 to 40 members. Importantly, they are not only from St Petersburg, but from other universities across Russia.

How is the club working now? Could you please tell us about the meeting you organised in April?

As deputy chairperson of the club, I organise meetings. It’s a simple process. First, we choose a convenient day and time. As a meeting place, I prefer an anti-cafe or some similar space where you can talk and play board games.

Until March, the club’s chat was not active. I was initially quite indifferent to what was happening there. The organisers tried to hold an online meeting, but there was practically no response to what they had suggested.

By that time, the remote format of our meetings had induced fatigue on me. Yet, I wanted to support the idea of opening a club for Korean students. That’s why I suggested holding a face-to-face meeting in St Petersburg. We all got enthusiastic about this idea. We all have the same feelings and emotions. So, it was a blast. Today, anyone can join the club.

Why did you choose the University to study biology?

I visited St Petersburg and Moscow in 2012. I had a feeling that St Petersburg has a more relaxing atmosphere, as we say today, it has a pretty chill vibe. That’s why I chose St Petersburg to study.

Why did I choose biotechnology as my future profession? I have always wondered why people are so afraid of genetic engineering. They say that the laws of nature cannot be violated. There are labels on packages that products do not contain GMOs ... At school, I decided for myself that if these technologies are so powerful and progressive that everybody talks about them everywhere, I will delve into this sphere and master this science. The mood of society, after all, is changeable. Our attitude towards genetic engineering will also change in future.

What is your graduation project about?

I study chromosomal mutation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This yeast is widely used in the food industry. I grow them in different environments, mutate them, extract the DNA, and see if the strains have the necessary mutation. In April 2023, my yeast does not please me. During one of the stages of research (and there are several), DNA does not show the result I wanted to obtain for further research. It is necessary to do everything again. It is a complex process where all stages are interconnected. Too bad you can’t ask the yeast what the problem is. They do not hear me...