(report by Park Sun-young, with assistance from Jisun Yoo, Jonathan Borock, and Peter Kipp)

The 3rd North East Asian Open (NEAO) was held at Korea University in Seoul, Korea from November 10 – 12, 2006. University students from four nations—Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand—attended with 37 teams, total, competing in the 3 on 3 All-Asian format in the five preliminary rounds, followed by elimination rounds beginning with a quarterfinal. There was also an EFL final for the best teams outside the main break whose university classes were not taught in English and a rookie final for teams made up entirely of debaters who were competing in a tournament for the first time.

Chief Adjudicator: Dan Williams (Western Washington University)

Deputy Chief Adjudicators:      Eun-Seong Hwang (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)

Nurliana Kamaruddin (Ewha Womans University)

Tabulations Director:     Jason Jarvis (Korea Development Institute,

Graduate School of Public Policy and Management)

Brendan Howe (Ewha Womans University)

After five hard-fought preliminary rounds on Friday and Saturday, the top ranked team was team 3 from Ewha University¡¯s Department of International Studies (EDIS) in Seoul, Korea. The EDIS team had gone undefeated in the preliminaries; while the other breaking teams each had one loss, with overseas guests from the University of Tokyo Debating Society (UTDS) taking second position in the quarterfinal tree on points.

Quarterfinals

(1) EDIS 3 d. (8) EDIS 2

(2) UTDS d. (7) Hanyang 2

(6) DAE 3 d. (3) Sophia

(4) EDIS 1 d. (5) KIC 1

On Sunday morning EDIS 3 maintained its dominance with a win over fellow club members EDIS 2, debating the motion ¡°THW make education gay friendly.¡± The second ranked team, Tokyo, also advanced on a walkover, as one member of the Hanyang 2 team (Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea) overslept and never showed up to debate. In the other two quarterfinals, the fourth-ranked team, EDIS 1 defeated Kyunghee International College¡¯s team 1 from Suwon, Korea, while the sixth ranked team, composed of 3 rookie speakers from the Debate Association of Ewha (the other club from Ewha University) upset #3 Sophia University from Japan.

Semi-Finals

UTDS d. DAE 3

EDIS 1 d. EDIS 3

On a 3 –2 split decision, EDIS 1 defeated fellow club members EDIS 3 to go to the final, while Tokyo University avenged their fellow Japanese team¡¯s defeat to DAE 3 by beating the young Korean team.

Grand Final

EDIS 1 (Kim Soo-min, Han Seung-yeon, Suh Ah-hyun) defeats

UTDS (Chihiro Nakagawa, Yoshihiro Kobayashi, Kimi Suzuki)

In the beginning of the grand final round on the motion ¡°THBT Japan should build nuclear weapons,¡± both teams showed equally matched debating skills. Tokyo offered a complicated chain of argument, suggesting that the current nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) had failed to stop proliferation and suggesting, as an alternative, a revised NPT allowing nuclear weapons if certain safeguards were met. This, they said, would allow Japan, with its peace constitution and high level of safety technology, to set a good example for the world and develop a few carefully-monitored defensive weapons without provoking a regional arms race. The opposition countered by citing regional tensions over Japan¡¯s militaristic history and by opposing relaxation of current NPT regulations as the beginning of a slippery slope toward rearmament both in and outside Japan.

The UTDS strategy may have been to win the affection of the audience by showing a softer, more fair-minded side to Japanese policy, and if so they succeeded, as the Tokyo team received cheers of encouragement from the audience throughout the debate. But the opposition steadily chipped away at the contradictions in the complex Tokyo stance, and Han Seung-yeon, the whip speaker of EDIS 1 played a decisive role in her team¡¯s win with a combination of precise rebuttals and clear focus on the major issues debated. The result was a 5 - 0 vote for the EDIS team.

Breaking teams and top-five speakers received unique trophies of traditional Korean celadon pottery, sponsored by ING Life, in the final awards ceremony.

Rookie Final     Yonsei 1 (Korea) d. Kyunghee 3 (Korea)

EFL Final          Chung-Ang 1 (Korea) d. Wenzao (Taiwan)

Best Speakers

1          Kim Ah-young (EDIS 3)

2          Kimi Suzuki (UTDS)

3          Eugene Chae (DAE 4)

4          Chung Yoo-jin (EDIS 4)

5          tie: Sumi Park (Hanyang 1), Chun Jun-sub (Hanyang 2)

7          Kim Eui-yun (KIC 1)

8          Hanna Ko (EDIS 2)

9          Jonathan Borock (Sophia)

10        Jang Sae-hyun (Hanyang 2)

11         Choi Moon-hee (EDIS 2)

Best Rookie Speaker    Lee Joo-yuen (DAE 5)

Best EFL Speaker         Kim Sun-hee (Inchon)

Motions

Round 1: People vs. The Man

THW risk civilian casualties for military victories.

THB that Guantanamo Bay detainees should receive normal US criminal due process rights.

THW violate individual rights to protect the domestic order.

Round 2: Pop Culture

THB that Borat is good for Kazakhstan.

THB that orphans prefer the material World to the 3rd World.

THB that celebrities should be required to perform community service.

Round 3: The Environment

THW sacrifice growth to protect the world's oceanic creatures.

THW blame citizens, not their governments, for global warming.

This House Supports private ownership of public water systems.

Round 4: Economics

THW abolish the minimum wage.

THB that the Korean Wave has broken.

THW sign a Free Trade Agreement with America.

Round 5: The Soviet Union

This House Supports the re-creation of the Soviet Union.

THB that the Russian government should protect voices of opposition within its borders.

THB the European Union should include the nations of the Former Soviet Union.

Quarter Finals: Government and Morality

THB that government has a moral obligation to end poverty.

THW make education gay friendly.

THW ban religious symbols in government institutions.

Semis: Very Bad People

THW waterboard (torture) Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

THW mourn Fidel Castro's death.

THW not give Saddam Hussein the death penalty.

Finals: Northeast Asia

THB that Taiwan has earned its seat in the United Nations.

THB that Japan should build nuclear weapons.

THB that Korea should be thankful for the American Empire.

Rookie Final: Science and Health

THW subsidize public consumption of wine.

THW ban animal testing for the creation of newmedicine.

THB that nature trumps nurture.