Working as an international exchange agent at the Nara Prefecture Office’s Bureau of International Tourism
[October 10, 2011]

 “I received my orders from the Nara Prefecture Office in Japan on April 15 after a competition rate of 25 to 1. My mission is to work to promote exchange with Korea. This is truly fortunate for me since I majored in Japanese language and literature.”

 
 Moon, Yoon-jeong (24, photo), who graduated from the Yeungnam University Department of Japanese Language & Literature in February, is living a new life as a public officer for Nara Prefecture, Japan. She was officially hired in April as an international exchange agent selected by the Japanese Embassy in Korea at the request of CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) and is working in the Bureau of International Tourism for Nara Prefecture’s Tourism Department.

 The cornerstone for her becoming a public officer for Japan, rather than Korea where she was born and raised in Gimcheon, Gyeongbuk, was during her studies in Japan for one year from October 2008. While studying at the Nara University of Education as a scholarship student of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, she volunteered as an interpreter for a Korea-Japan faculty exchange program. Here, she met her Korean predecessor who was working as an international exchange agent for Nara Prefecture. They continued to keep in contact even after she returned to Korea and dreamed of becoming an international exchange agent. Finally, she passed her written test and interview and made her dreams come true.

 “It was nerve-racking to prepare for this because it was a deep interview in front of three secretaries from the Japanese Embassy that lasted for 30 minutes, in which I was asked about many things including personality, politics and current events. However, Yeungnam University’s Office of International Programs gladly provided a place to conduct trial interviews and a Japanese friend who was studying at the Korean Language Institute also helped me playing the role of the interviewer. The excellent recommendation written by my teacher, Professor Kim, Yang-sun of the Department of Japanese Language & Literature, as well as her encouragement helped me a lot too. I would like to thank everyone once again for all the help.”

 Her main duties for the past six months were to act as a bridge to promote friendly exchange with Korea. Due to the particularly close relations with ancient Baekje, Nara Prefecture is actively pursuing exchange with Chungcheongnam-do. In particular, she stood by the director as an interpreter for signing mutual exchange agreements and other related international meetings between the two government bodies, exhibiting her proficient skills in Japanese.

 Also, due to the recent craze over Hallyu, she is serving as an instructor in Korean for public officers of the prefecture and is also cast on the in-company Korean broadcast programs during lunch. Furthermore, she is also playing an active role in making Korea known to the locals such as in the planning and of international exchange events and operating Korean booths, four times a year, and is thus actively engaged in promoting Korean tourists.

 
Together with colleagues of the Nara Prefecture Bureau of International Tourism (Moon, Yoon-jeong holding up a Korean flag)

 She is always looking for new challenges. She said, “I can work for up to five years as an international exchange agent. Afterwards, based on this experience, I would like to become a foreign affairs officer for Korea and work on making Korean known worldwide.” She also added, “I hope that other students also set out to present Korea to the world in various fields. If you knock enough, the door will always open. The world is vast and there are so many things to do.”

 Together with Moon, Shin, Hye-ji (24), who also graduated from the Yeungnam University Department of Japanese Language & Literature in February, has also began working for the Kumamoto City Hall since April. With the growing Hallyu throughout the world, it is expected that more Korean youths will more actively go out to work in other corners of the world.