Joseph Hahmmin Kang Earns Honorable Mention at KYS 2026 with a Vision for Ethical Youth Leadership

Seoul, South Korea – Korea Youth Summit (KYS) 2026 brought together young people from 11 countries in Seoul, South Korea, from 6–10 September 2026. Under the theme “Empowering Youth to Preserve Culture and Driving Sustainable Innovation” and the tagline “Living Culture, Lasting Legacy,” the summit provided a space for participants to present ideas addressing challenges facing communities and the wider world.

Among the participants was Joseph Hahmmin Kang, Co-Founder of the Interscholastic Ethics Society (IES), who received an Honorable Mention for his presentation, “Empowering Ethical Youth Leadership: Building Integrity, Global Citizenship, and Sustainable Change.”

Through his presentation, Joseph explored how young people can develop ethical leadership rooted in integrity, build trust across differences, and create systems that allow meaningful change to continue beyond individual leaders.

Ethical Leadership Is a Practice

Joseph’s presentation began with a central idea: ethical leadership is not simply an innate quality. Instead, it can be developed through deliberate practice and supported by structures that turn personal convictions into sustained action.

Based on this perspective, he introduced three key pillars of ethical youth leadership: integrity in disagreement, trust across differences, and institutions that outlast their founders.

Pillar One: Integrity in Disagreement

The first pillar draws from Joseph’s three years of experience in international debate circuits across Zimbabwe, Paris, Cambridge, Singapore, and Seoul. His experience, which also included being ranked among Korea’s top eight debaters, shaped his approach to handling disagreement.

One practice he highlighted was steelmanning. Rather than attacking a simplified or distorted version of an opposing argument, steelmanning requires people to understand and present the strongest possible version of the other side’s position.

Joseph outlined a simple process for applying this approach. First, restate the other person’s position before responding. Next, develop their argument in its strongest form. Finally, respond only after the other person agrees that their position has been understood accurately.

Through this practice, disagreement becomes more than a debate. It becomes an opportunity to exercise intellectual honesty and engage with different perspectives with greater integrity.

Pillar Two: Building Trust Across Differences

The second pillar focuses on trust and draws from Joseph’s experience building the Interscholastic Ethics Society.

What began with six friends at one school in April 2023 grew into a community of more than 1,200 members across 35 partner schools by November 2025. Along the way, IES expanded its ethics forums and community service partnerships.

The organization also took part in a November 2025 petition to Korea’s National Assembly concerning child AI safety. In March 2026, IES held an Environmental Ethics Forum with Minister Kim Sung-hwan.

For Joseph, these experiences demonstrate that trust does not emerge from a single conversation or grand gesture. Instead, it develops through consistent action: showing up, following through on commitments, and allowing others to define what matters to them.

Pillar Three: Building Institutions That Outlast You

The third pillar shifts the focus from individual leadership to systems that can continue operating beyond one person.

Joseph highlighted a petition submitted by high school students to Korea’s National Assembly in November 2025 concerning child AI safety. The initiative was later covered by The Korea Times in December 2025.

The petition called for restrictions on AI access for children under 12, with exceptions for educational purposes. It also proposed safety measures such as age verification, safeguards for crisis-related conversations, usage limits, and AI safety education in schools.

For Joseph, initiatives such as petitions, charters, and recurring meetings may appear ordinary. However, these forms of infrastructure can turn concern into sustained action. In this way, leadership becomes more than expressing an idea. It also means creating structures that allow that idea to continue making an impact.

Turning Local Action into Sustainable Change

In the closing section of his presentation, Joseph encouraged young leaders to stop waiting until they feel completely ready to take action. Instead, he argued that readiness can develop through doing, learning, and improving along the way.

He also encouraged young people to address local problems thoroughly. A challenge within one community can often reflect a broader issue shared by people elsewhere.

Before leaving Seoul, Joseph offered two practical challenges to fellow youth leaders. First, find someone who disagrees with you and try to build the strongest possible version of their argument before responding. Second, create one simple piece of infrastructure that can help address a local problem in your own community.

Conclusion

At Korea Youth Summit 2026, Joseph Hahmmin Kang received an Honorable Mention for presenting a framework for ethical youth leadership grounded in integrity, trust, and sustainable institutions.

His presentation highlighted that meaningful change requires more than strong ideas or the willingness to speak up. It also requires the ability to understand disagreement, build trust through consistent action, and create systems that can continue beyond the people who started them.

Through this approach, youth leadership can move beyond individual initiatives and become a foundation for lasting and sustainable change.

For more information:

Website: www.youthbreaktheboundaries.com
Media Relations – Youth Break the Boundaries
Email: [email protected]