By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Zhang Lina, a student of the Graduate School of Public Administration at Seoul National University, works at the Seoul Design Olympiad 2009 (SDO) office and assists in its English and Chinese language promotional efforts. Zhang is a Chinese college graduate who came to Korea for further studies and now works as a ``global intern'' of Seoul City.
``I supervise Chinese translations on the Web site. I also opened a MySpace page to publicize SDO in English and Chinese,'' Zhang said. ``I want to get a job here after finishing graduate school next semester, and it is good to have experience in Korean public administration.''
Zhang wants to work in a non-governmental organization in Seoul later.
There are 24 more foreign students working in various departments of the city that need global viewpoints and fluent foreign language speakers.
The city's global internship program has two different sections ― one for foreign students studying in Korea and one for Korean-Americans recommended by the Korean-American Association of Greater New York.
``Foreign students here are mostly from Asian countries and fluent in Chinese or Japanese, while Korean-American students are good English speakers. However, we also require them to be bilingual including Korean,'' said Kim Jong-soo of the city's International Cooperation Division (ICD).
The program operates during every academic vacation period and acceptance is based on recommendations from the students' schools, meaning students cannot individually apply for the internship.
The ICD asks each department to determine its needs for foreign student interns and stations them in divisions holding international events or doing business overseas.
Matsuno Ko, a Japanese student of the Department of Mass Communication at Yonsei University, works for International Taxi, which is specialized for tourists. There are two other global interns, one Chinese and one Mongolian, in the division. ``In addition to translation, I receive reservations and greet guests at the airport,'' Ko said. ``We usually have lunch with other city employees and they teach us a lot about the work.''
Paik Il-hon, who works at the urban competitive headquarters attracting foreign investment, has been working with a Korean-American intern since Monday. ``Basically, I want her to learn about what our headquarters does, what Seoul City does and what Korea does,'' Paik said. ``She will also revise English translations and do research on foreign investment. Since she can speak both Korean and English it is easy to communicate with her.''
``The largest population of foreign students are Chinese, most of whom want to get a job here. However, they, especially undergraduates, don't have many chances to do internships and the Seoul City internship is a valuable experience,'' said Park Hye-won, an international coordinator at Yonsei.
Seoul is seeking to receive feedback from them to make the internship program better. ``We had a discussion with city employees regarding international interns and most were satisfied with the interns' work. Some interns wanted to know how to be a public servant in Korea,'' Kim of the ICD said. ``We also take them to inspect Seoul's major projects, such as the Han River Renaissance.''
The city plans to expand the internship to affiliated organizations and district offices and offer foreign students more opportunities to participate in the city administration, such as the Seoul International Student Forum.