KOREA FOUNDATION

KF Global Challengers Internship Letter

I have been participating in a KF-sponsored internship at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, since last September. Before leaving Korea for Brussels, I read other interns’ reports on the KF’s website and gleaned many helpful tips for my own internship. I hope future KF interns will prepare for their internships by closely reading the reports of the people who served as interns before them. Now, here is my story.
  After I successfully passed the European Parliament’s traineeship, I was assigned to the Policy Department, Directorate-General for the External Politics of the Union, DG-EXPO. Here, my supervisor is in charge of the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia. I spent the month of September researching the relations between Korea and Europe and wrote up a comprehensive report that covered a broad range of Korea-related topics, including political, economic, legal, and human rights situations, and analyzed their effects on Korea-Europe relations.
  In October, I conducted research on five subjects and produced related reports. The first was on the persecution of the Rohingya people in Myanmar; the second on the political situation of Pakistan in the wake of the July elections; the third on the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which President Moon Jae-in attended; the fourth on negotiations for North Korea’s denuclearization and the relations between North Korea and Europe; and the last on the current state of the Philippines and the South China Sea. Among the reports, the one regarding North Korea had been requested in time for the North Korea visit of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula, and I conducted an in-depth study on the multilateral relations between North and South Korea and the United States, as well as the United Nations, Europe and North Korea.
  My working environment leaves nothing to be desired. The European Quarter, which contains the European Parliament, is an international area where public security is well maintained, and it is easy to meet and make connections with not only Belgians but Europeans from across the continent. My office building is quite near to the headquarters of the European Parliament and thus provides researchers with the ideal conditions to advance their studies. In October, Schuman trainee participants (an internship for European students to work in the European Parliament) came to work in the building, bringing a fresh energy into the office. Thanks to them, I have been able to apply even greater focus to my research.

KF European Parliament Traineeship European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium Sophia Park

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