​During my years in different branches with various positions in the federal government, I recognized that I am gaining exceptional experiences at the federal level, but not enough in the local area. I believe that the success of any country's operations relies on smooth collaboration and cooperation between the local and national governments. With that recognization, I decided to apply to work for my city government — Jeju Provincial Government — as a Public Policy Citizen Advisor. Concurrently as a Content Strategist for the Ministry of Environment, I began this new position at the city level confident that working at both the local and national levels would teach me several invaluable lessons. 

I knew that this would not be easy. Every year, only 4% of the high school students were admitted to this program, and even fewer students finished the program successfully. Fortunately, my experiences working at the national level were perceived as an asset, and I was admitted to become the citizen policy advisor for the Jeju Provincial Government. 

After the announcement, all citizen policy advisors were able to collaborate with the Jeju government to monitor provincial and municipal government policies and affairs and local government-sponsored volunteer activities supporting underprivileged populations. After analysis, we would eventually propose government policies, grants, and other programs based on personal study and citizen feedback directly using the government portal. 

The term for this program, two years, is relatively longer than other positions inside the government. This is my second year in this program, and out of countless meetings and small events, I would like to share a memorable event that I had the privilege to attend during my 1st year. 

December 8th of 2021, the Prime Minister of South Korea and the Jeju Province Governor of South Korea cohosted The Saemaul Undong, also known as the New Community Movement. Initially, it was a political initiative launched on April 22nd, 1970, where federal, local, and town government leaders discussed the urbanization of rural towns. 

For this year's event, the agenda was to mobilize town government leaders who had been leading the unification and protection of their communities during the COVID-19 era, such as quarantine, fabric mask production, vaccination assistants, and sharing activities geared toward mental and emotional wellbeing.

​While working as a HOBY Youth Education Commissioner at HOBY Korea, I mainly created curricula and programs that many students can pursue to expand their knowledge and interest in researching politics, culture, and international relations. One of the programs that I led during my time in HOBY was reading over opinion editorials that our fellow students submitted to our program. Here is the sample video that I have created for these students to know when drafting an article. 

​Please refer to this link to see what kind of programs I have been leading back in my years in HOBY. 

​Ambassador: (Benny) Sungbin Hwang
Representing: Embassy of Mexico in Korea
Month:  February 2020
Division: Culture

Update: Breaking Barriers of Tradition by Alberto Lopez Gomez

Gender equality issues might seem resolved around the modern era, however, it is still a serious social norm in various places on Earth. Mexico is one of the places where the roles of men and women are strongly assigned. Lopez came from the Los Altos region of Chiapas. Historically, a Maya country where it is rural and has a strict traditional community. Lopez was specifically living at the small Tzotzil community of Aldama, in this community, women were assigned to do women’s work such as needling, washing, housework, and art. Men were toiling fields, doing strength work.

In 2014, Lopez at the age of 25, questioned the gender social norms that are happening in Mexico. Thus, he decided to challenge traditional social norms to become a designer himself.  He was hoping that their parents would support to go against the social norm in his country, directly quoting Lopez, “It took me a while to tell my mother that I wanted to learn to work on a backstrap loom. She was surprised because no man had ever done this, but she supported me from the first moment.” With their parents’ support, he spread the news by notifying the newspaper company. Now being public, Lopez faced some challenges of ignorance and disapproval from people. Everyone said this is highly against the social norm, hence he will not be successful. Lopez answered with ignorance. 

​Lopez continued his journey, he woke up and worked 14 hours a day, allowing him to hone his techniques, throughout hard-working. He moved on to grow as a founder of a design business at the tourist destination of San Cristóbal de las Casas. With his location, more than 130 Tzotil artisans brought textiles from fair prices, with equal treatment. Six years later, his long-term practices and talent were recognized. He had a chance to present his work at Harvard University and New York’s prestigious fashion week. This step was a huge step up to Lopez, his goal of breaking the barrier of gender work social norms were now internationally being recognized. Here is the timeline of the events:

In January, he traveled to Boston and gave a speech about the cosmology of traditional Tzotzil huipils. Tzotzil Huipils was the square or rectangular garments common in central and southern Mexico and are often highly decorated with woven and embroidered patterns. These designs are linked to the traditional beliefs and customs of a location. 

This month, in February, Lopez officially declared he is a designer, not a farmworker. In New York Fashion Week, he and along 150 women weavers from his region presented the designer line called K’uxul Pok. The world considered this event as a turning point on social norms, and an important event to promote the traditional textiles of his region globally. 
​
Until the present day, even right at this moment, Lopez continues to work against the notion that weaving is only for women. He is a designer, and he is a global leader that started small but now internationally recognized. He started inside his town, a small community to challenge the social norm, and practice designing, then he grew domestically to present his designing. Now presented on the world stage of the New York fashion show, he was internationally recognized as a designer and global leader that leads the changes in gender social norms of jobs. This article will finish with Lopez’s quote about his goal. “My goal is to let people know about my work and the work of my associates, even though people sometimes are envious or critical. I learn a lot by being able to give my associates encouragement.”

​Ambassador: (Benny) Sungbin Hwang
Representing: Embassy of Mexico in Korea
Month:  December 2019 
Division: Politics 


Update: NOAA supports restoring the Gulf of Mexico's ecological system

“We are one, after all, you and I, together we suffer, together exist and forever will recreate one another,” this quote stated by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin emphasizing the unity of the world, well suited to the recent situation between the United States and Mexico. The United States government decided to support 300,000,000,000₩ towards Mexico with the purpose of restoring the environmental issues that occurred from the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill Incident. This news was applied to the quote because when it comes to an international environmental problem, regardless of political, business, and other issues that are happening between countries, countries are sorted to help the world, since we all live in a single world, Earth. To learn more about this event, it is significant to see what happened in 2010. 

April 20th, 2010 the BP (the British Oil Industry Company)’s Macondo (oil field) blew out in mile-deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. Due to this sinking, the Deepwater Horizon drill rig exploded, it killed 11 workers, 17 injuries, and it was recorded as the worst environmental disaster in North, Central, and South America’s history.  The oil continued to leak at the Gulf of Mexico until July 15th, 2010. NRDC reported an estimated 171 million gallons of oils have been leaked, and 1.8 gallons of toxic chemical dispersants were used in response efforts. Although, the gas leak was critical to the sea environment. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reported that 600 turtles, 150 whales, and dolphins were dead due to the oil spill. Significantly, the ocean might be still toxic resisting the ocean species to live in those areas. Hence, the NOAA decided to spend 300 billion won in order to restore the condition in the ocean environment. 

    With the United State’s government approval of NOAA spending the 300 billion won, they announced, directly quoting, “the plan funds 18 projects at an approximate cost of $226 million to help restore fish, sea turtles, marine mammals and deep-sea coral habitat injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” during the press conference. Specifically, the project will include organizations working to find and implement innovative ways to reduce the bycatch of fish and marine animals. Here are some goals of the projects: 

1. More efforts on reducing the bycatch of juvenile sea turtles. 
2. Making nets that they can escape from Shrimping Nets. 
3. Work with local organizations to protect sea turtle nesting habitats. 
4. Develop and implement tools and techniques to reduce injuries to,
   1. Marine vessel collisions,
   2. Ocean Noise,
   3. Disasters; both human and natural caused. 

​
    Overall, the NOAA is worried even right until this moment, the ocean environment is harming the ocean species, and in 2019 NOAA reported they believe more than 600 turtle,s 150 whales, and a dolphin was found dead due to a response to the oil spill. It is significant to consider the environment first, more than anything since we live in this world. Some projects will be short-termed, and some projects will be longer than expected. Although, it is reliving that countries are paying attention to these incidents and it is hoped that the ocean environment in the Gulf of Mexico will be resolved in an urgent matter.

Miguel León-Portilla contributed his whole life to the native cultures.  He showed an outstanding passion through his areas of studies and great commitment. Portilla received the Belisario Dominguez-which is a medal that is given to a person who contributed to the Mexico Government in a greater value-in 1995 and he was a member of the National College since March 23rd, 1971. During his academic career, Portilla studied Nahua language and literature (native group in Mexico) and had an unusual depth of understanding. Not only in Mexico but the United States also recognized his knowledge and passions. Hence, the Library of Congress in December 2013 awarded Portilla with the “Living Legend Award.” Although, according to Portilla, his greatest recognition was the nickname of “Great Tlacuilo of the Nahuatl Language.” The nickname was from the Ancient Mexico times, a nickname for a person who painted or wrote hieroglyphs, ideograms, and pictograms. 

Spreading the knowledge of Nahuatl Culture, Portilla wrote a book called Vision of the Defeated. This book was a series of testimonies and paintings that describe the impact the conquest had on Nahuatl culture. This book got internationally published and translated into more than 20 languages, such as Russian, English, Japanese, German, French. Portilla even wrote a poem with a title of When a language dies. Here is the poem: 

When a tongue dies, 
Many have already died
And many can die
Forever broken mirrors, 
Shadow of voices
Forever silenced: 
Humanity is impoverished.    

“What interested me most in life is to continue fighting side by side with the indigenous peoples, with the native peoples, in defense of their languages and culture: the deepest root of Mexico, our great wealth,” said Portilla for expressing his reasons of writing works of literature. Miguel León-Portilla overall, always loved teaching because it was the noblest way to share knowledge. Furthermore, Portilla wanted to teach until the last day of his life. As a Mexico Embassy of Korea’s farewell ambassador, Miguel León-Portilla’s work and effort should be internationally recognized. For Miguel León-Portilla, may the souls of the deceased refrain.
​

While it may seem like an obvious advantage have youth on staff as interns at the Seoul Metropolitan Government Youth Center, this was far from the case when I was brought on as the first and only high school student intern. While this would not be my first government internship, this would be my first opportunity to make an impact at the municipal level. The fact that I would be the Program Manager Intern at a facility specifically designated for youth added fuel to my flame. 

Some of my tasks Included:

• Creating and coordinating online and offline youth programs, including a counseling center and digital
platforms, that raised awareness of political issues and career opportunities among youth.
• Researching issues such as cybersecurity, parental pressure, and sexual harassment, to design a program
allowing youth to express their challenges and experiences to the government in a supportive environment.

As a Korean youth myself, I already had awareness of the Issues facing youth from my personal experiences and from those of my friends and peers. I also had some background knowledge of those issues and their affects based on personal research I had done on statistics and other government data. What was most illuminating about this role, however, was how it completed changed my idea of what "research" could be. In order to ensure that the Youth Center was creating programs that directly addressed pressing youth needs, we conducted focus groups and interviews with young Koreans like myself. Even though my friends and I discuss some of these issues to an extent, listening to others share in a setting that is specifically for that purpose opened my eyes more than I could have imagined.

This is the kind of qualitative research that I realize is just as necessary as what the numbers show as I continue to move towards a future in government work. Statistics are only one part of the story, and the story is best heard from the people.

After seven rejections from the Korean government, my internship pursuit finally paid off when the Ministry of Environment made a special exception for me to join as an International Reporter Intern. My primary duties would be to promote the environment of Jeju Island to citizens across the Korean peninsula and to support the reporting of international environment issues throughout the government branch. 

My daily and weekly tasks consisted of lots of research. As I would research international events of importance to the environment, the next step would be to identify the most promising potential stories and begin building them out. Final products were articles on the government website, with content ranging range from short reports and infographics to short documentaries and digital pamphlets. It was incredibly fulfilling to know that I had made some form of impact when I would receive thankful emails from citizens who had read the materials that I helped to prepare.

This role helped me to better understand that how the government communicates its policies and reforms is just as important as what the reforms are themselves. When government information is hard to access or to understand, the very people that policies are meant to support often end up missing out on those opportunities. I could not have imagined a better first government internship experience, as I have been able to take this insight with me into each of my later roles conducting marketing and outreach efforts.