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| In this provided photo taken in 2019, actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Jung Woo-sung, center in a white T-shirt, poses with Rohingya refugees at Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh on World Refugee Day. Courtesy of United Nations Human Rights |
By Lee Hae-rin
Actor Jung Woo-sung, who serves as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), will visit Poland to meet Ukrainian refugees on Oct. 3, UNHCR's Seoul office said, Wednesday. This will be Jung's eighth trip as a Korean representative for the humanitarian aid agenda.
Since his appointment as UNHCR goodwill ambassador in May 2014, Jung has visited refugees and displaced people in Nepal, South Sudan, Iraq, Bangladesh, Djibouti and Malaysia. Due to border restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, his missions abroad have been halted for three years.
"Although there have been restrictions to visit the field for the last three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was concerned about the growing number of refugees," Jung said in a statement released by the UNHCR. "I hope for this mission to Poland to be an opportunity to increase Koreans' awareness of displaced people and to convey the message that anyone can be forced to flee."
During his visit to Poland, Jung will meet Ukrainian refugees and volunteers at Lublin train station where refugees continue to arrive by train. One of the refugee support centers there is operated by the UNHCR, the group said.
Jung has been a vocal advocate of human rights for refugees and displaced people. In 2018, the actor spoke up for the Yemeni refugees who arrived on Jeju Island seeking refugee status.
In February 2019, he spoke for the refugees at a policy forum at the National Assembly. The actor shared his experiences with meeting refugees and displaced people while expressing concerns for baseless stories about Yemeni refugees that were spreading quickly online and inciting hatred and Islamophobia. He also called for a revision of the Refugee Act.
In 2019 he also published a memoir, titled "If you could see what I have seen," which reflects his journey with the UNHCR since 2014 on Refugee Day, which falls every year on June 20. All of the proceeds from the book's sales are donated to the UNHCR.
According to the UNHCR, more than 13 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their home country and crossed borders to seek asylum. Poland has received more than 1.3 million Ukrainian war refugees, many of whom are women and children, elderly and disabled.
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