Experiencing unique work culture
Three international interns of the Seoul Metropolitan City Council pose for the camera after a roundtable interview with The Korea Times. From left are Hazel Mejia from Australia, Abhisheka Dubey from India and Patricia Shin from the United States. / Korea Times photo by Kang Hyun-kyung
3 int’l interns of Seoul city council share experience--
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Three interns from foreign countries are experiencing Korea’s unique work culture through an internship program at the Seoul Metropolitan City Council.
Since mid-January, Patricia Shin from the United States, Abhisheka Dubey from India and Hazel Mejia from Australia, have been doing translation and research work for the city council.
Dubey, a second-year student in the International Studies Department of Hanyang University in Seoul, found Korea more conservative than her home country.
“When I first came to Korea, the only thing that particularly struck me was the hierarchy system that you have in Korea,” she said.
“Although India is a conservative country, we respect talent over the hierarchy system. If you are smart enough you can rise to the top. But in Korea, this is kind of very hard. Korea is kind of rigid because of the Confucian system.”
Dubey, born to a Korean mother and an Indian father and raised in India, characterized her mother as “a liberal Korean.” She came to Korea two years ago to study.
Mejia, a graduate student of Seoul National University, said that the language barrier made it difficult for her to adjust for her internship, but she found the experience rewarding.
“Even though I have been here several times, I think getting the opportunity to live here longer, as well as getting experience working in a Korean business culture and work culture has been eye-opening for me,” the Australian intern said.
“There are a lot of important concepts that you need to know while working in the city council and there are also a lot of things that experience itself only help you understand.”
Mejia is preparing for her master’s thesis on the topic of the 2012 Korean presidential election.
“As a regional player, I think Korea has great potential. The bilateral relations between Korea and Australia are becoming even stronger than before after the two sides concluded a free trade agreement, which is a good thing for me,” Mejia said.
Shin, 19, an exchange student in the Political Science Department of Sogang University in Seoul, said that she discovered some cultural differences here.
“Seoul’s city council system is very different (from that in the U.S.). So it’s hard to draw parallels between the two governments to find what’s similar and what’s different,” the Korean-American said.
“But I also found a lot of similarities because Korea has a largely westernized culture, and so there are a lot of similar things you find in Korea and America.”
The three students said their internships were rewarding and they would strongly recommend the program to others.
Shin said she learned a lot even though it has only been only a few weeks since she and the other foreign interns started working with the city council.
“Through this internship, you get to experience things you otherwise would not be able to, and you get to see this part of Korea most foreigners or tourists really don’t see,” she said.
Earlier this year, Seoul City accepted 25 international interns, including Shin, Mejia and Dubey, under a global internship program. These interns are now working with the metropolitan government, city-run institutions and the city council. Their internships end in late February.