[2025 First-Half Volunteer Introduction] Park Se-jin (Dialogue with Refugees DR Team)

Q1. Please introduce yourself briefly.

Hello, my name is Park Se-jin, and I am a first-half 2025 volunteer at Migration to Asia Peace (MAP). I work on the team, a project in which refugees and native-born residents meet and get to know each other. I am in charge of event coordination, interpretation, and facilitation.

Q2. Please share your motivation for applying to MAP.

I have lived as a migrant for a long time and am interested in migration in general, so I am studying related subjects. I wanted to learn about refugees and forced migrants in Korea, whom I did not know well, and I also wanted to meet and work with refugees in the field rather than from the perspective of a student or researcher, so I applied to MAP.

Q3. What has changed in you before and after the activity?

During my activity, I had many opportunities to talk with the refugees who work as speakers on the team. I think I grew by thinking together about how to convey the speakers’ stories to the citizens we would meet through events and how to talk with one another.

Q4. What was the most memorable activity?

The most memorable was the event at Guil Middle School, the first event of this year. Meeting students who greeted the refugee speaker who visited with us warmly and were curious about them, and interpreting between them, I felt that the attitude of excluding and othering refugees is not inevitable.

Q5. What do you think our society needs most in order to live together with refugees?

I think non-refugees need to treat refugees as people with the same dignity, and above all, the government and public institutions need to reflect that perspective and make institutional changes so that refugees can live as equal citizens.