Center turns to students for help
Published: 30 Aug. 2009, 20:25
Foreigners who have questions about life in the city often turn to the Seoul Global Center, which aims to create a welcoming environment for expats and visitors a like.
Now, the organization is turning to others for some help.
The center recently launched the Seoul International Student Forum, which attempts to create a venue where university students in Korea of different backgrounds can share their ideas and opinions about how to further globalize the city.
Students of the second Seoul International Student Forum gathered together last Friday afternoon at the Press Center downtown to discuss policy suggestions and proposals in that area. As part of the event, the center hosted an award ceremony and selected just five out of 27 proposals made by 33 students from eight countries to be presented during the forum.
A four-member group led by Willa Lin, who is from Australia and currently attends Yonsei University, took first place with a proposal to create an awareness program to address the problem of excessive spitting in public.
“Ninety-one percent of foreigners and 89 percent of Koreans stated that they witnessed people spitting in Korea and expressed that it creates a negative image of Seoul,” Lin said, citing a survey the group conducted. The group’s proposal was to attach pictures of smiling faces in areas where people frequently spit. They derived the idea from an old Korean saying that “people seldom spit on a smiling face.”
Two groups were awarded the runner-up position. One proposal involved creating a Wikipedia-like support system for foreigners and the other suggested changes to the country’s cell phone system.
The city appointed a total of 112 students, including 98 foreigners studying here and 14 Koreans, as official members of the second Seoul International Student Forum. The ambassador of Singapore, the head of the Seoul Global Center and the president of the forum were also present.
Students who participated had an opportunity to experience firsthand the culture and lifestyle of Seoul through various activities over the past three months. They also explored the Blue House, the KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) and Digital Media City and had a chance to play a part in a social volunteer program.
“I am very pleased with the success of this forum,” said Chua Thai Keong, the Singapore ambassador to Korea. “Through organizations such as the SCG, international students can expand their horizons and make friends. There is no better way to make foreigners feel at home.”
Alan Timblick, head of the Seoul Global Center, said he believe that the forum presents a good opportunity for international students to form a network and for the center to establish itself as a representative organization for foreign students here.
“I believe that this is a benchmark toward our goal of creating a globalized city,” Timblick said as his closing comments.
By Hyon Mi-kyung Contributing writer [[email protected]]
Winning participants of the second Seoul International Student Forum. By Hyon Mi-kyung
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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