Retriever Attending Graduation Ceremony... Kyungpook National University Awards Honorary Diploma to Guide Dog 'Tango' Who Assisted Visually Impaired Student

Accompanying Kim Kyung-hoon, Master's Graduate

Congratulatory Speech by Kim Ye-ji, Member of the People Power Party

On the 23rd, Kyungpook National University will award an honorary diploma to Tango, a guide dog who assisted a visually impaired student in his studies, at the graduation ceremony.

Tango will receive the honorary diploma in recognition of accompanying Kim Kyung-hoon, a visually impaired student, for two years and helping him successfully complete his master's program at the Graduate School. At the ceremony, Kim Ye-ji, the first female visually impaired member of the People Power Party (proportional representation), is scheduled to attend and deliver a congratulatory speech.

Kim Kyung-hoon, who attended university without a guide dog during his undergraduate years, lived as a team with Tango after entering the master's program and plans to continue living together. Before meeting Tango, Kim relied on friends and his parents for school life, but with Tango, he became capable of independent walking. Now four years old, Tango is the only guide dog trained by a company-operated guide dog training institution in the world, the Samsung Fire & Marine Guide Dog School.

Mr. Kim Kyung-hoon and Tango.

"My life changed greatly after meeting Tango. The name Tango was given by the guide dog school. In the movie Woman's Scent, the visually impaired protagonist says, 'If the steps get tangled, that is Tango,' which left a strong impression on me, meaning there is no predetermined answer in the world. I liked the name for that reason."

Kim said that Tango is very well trained and has become familiar with the campus after two years, but due to unexpected kindness and street situations from people seeing a guide dog for the first time, Tango might exhibit sudden behavior. He hopes people will greet Tango with their eyes only and admire him gently when meeting on the street.

"Although I have become a bit freer with independent walking, ironically, there are many places Tango and I cannot go together. Although there is the Disabled Welfare Act, there are still significant restrictions on access. However, I believe things will gradually improve."

Kim will receive his diploma as the representative of the master's students at the graduation ceremony. "In a situation where disabled students might only be able to earn credits without properly engaging in 'studies,' I was able to smoothly carry out my studies thanks to the university's support, professors, and friends' consideration. I sincerely thank many people who made me who I am today, Samsung, and my guide dog Tango," he said in his graduation remarks.

Kim graduated from the Department of Library and Information Science at Kyungpook National University in February 2022 and entered the master's program in the same department in March of that year, earning his master's degree in two years without taking a leave of absence. His graduation thesis was titled "A Phenomenological Study on the Kiosk Usage Experience of Low Vision Visually Impaired People." Additionally, he wrote a research report supported by the National Science and Technology Human Resources Development Institute and won the Daegu Mayor's Award in the preliminaries and a silver prize in the finals at the "2023 National Happiness Information Technology (IT) Competition" hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.