[imText1]A ‘Defector University Leadership Camp’ will be held for defector university students to help them adjust to South Korean society and for the education of youth leadership.
Sponsored by the ‘Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Rights’ (Chief Director Yoon Hyun), 20 defector university students from Seoul National University and Yonsei University will participate in a 3 day leadership camp commencing on the 21st.
The Citizen’s Alliance stated that “There are many cases where students cannot adjust to university life and must abandon their studies because of various difficulties such as unfamiliar university life, course selection and career uncertainty” and revealed that the background for “leadership camp, is to show defector university students about university lifestyle and courses, and advise them on planning for their careers and life goals.”
Furthermore “An objective of leadership camp is to cultivate leaders in mediating the ‘Heart of unity’ for post North and South Unification.”
The organizations lead education trainer, Lee Young Hwan, stressed that “If amongst defector university students, active, positive-minded leaders are cultivated, through them preconceptions about defectors will be erased” and “misunderstandings and prejudices could be resolved by qualified arbitrators with a heart for unification advancement.”
The leadership camp shows it is receptive to offering the program in areas where defector university students find assimilating most difficult.
The leadership camp includes various activities such as ▲Work skills and Myer-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI) ▲Professional interpretation and Introductory tips to English study ▲Starting employment preparations and explanations on the interview process ▲Special lectures on Knowledge of law by lawyer Shon Kyo Myeong and ▲Lectures by specialists from the Korean Leadership Centre.
In particular, Kang Chul Hwan, co-representative for the Democracy Network against North Korean Gulags and author of the international best seller ‘the Aquariums of Pyongyang’ will join the camp and encourage his younger students, lecturing on university life and his experiences in society. Additionally, Kim Suk Woo, former vice-minister for the Ministry of Unification, will be lecturing on ‘Visions of 21st Century Youth.’
The Citizen’s Alliance plans to send 6 people from this group to the ‘International Volunteers Worker Camp’ organized by the International Work Camp Operations (IWO).
