TRADE LINKS, LLC
Ji-Hoon Jeong

An economics and trade major from Kyungpook National University in Daegu, South Korea, Ji-Hoon traveled to Australia (Brisbane and Queensland) in the past to improve his English and learn about other cultures. The winner of a college scholarship, Ji-Hoon also studied English at the KNU Language Institute and its Language Club. He completed his military service; worked as a cashier at McDonalds; and was a tutor in English, math, science before applying to the Washington Internship Program in the middle of August 2005. Ji-Hoon was first placed at Trade Links, LLC where he worked for six months. Ji-Hoon’s next internship was at the North Korea Freedom Coalition (NKFC) where he worked on behalf of people living under a dictatorship in North Korea and for the unification of his country under democratic auspices. Ji-Hoon translated articles and websites. In September of 2006, Ji-Hoon was placed by the Washington Internship Program at the Korean Economic Institute, and WIP helped Ji-Hoon obtain a six-month extension of his J1 visa in order to get the most out of this extremely competitive internship. Throughout Ji-Hoon’s eighteen-months in the Washington, D.C. area, he lived at Summit Hills Apartments in Silver Spring, Maryland where his English improved enormously not only because of the English classes offered every week by WIP but also due to the influence of other English-speaking interns, including an American suite-mate who is a grammar-school teacher and another Korean intern, Taesu Kim from Korea University in Seoul, whose internship was at Primus Telecommunications and who spoke English perfectly. Ji-Hoon was wise to realize that his choice to live in WIP housing insured an intensive English-immersion experience that helped him improve linguistically at a rate that exceeded even fellow students from KNU whose English was initially better than his. In December of 2006, Ji-Hoon’s English was so strong that WIP hired him to translate into English some Korean papers. Ji-Hoon also assisted with a local political campaign in the fall of 2006 and was a volunteer for a while at Earth-Day Network. A description of Ji-Hoon’s American odyssey is reproduced below.

“I had three internships while in Washington. The first was at Trade Links, LLC, where I worked from November 2005 to April 2006. This international trade company was the Washington office of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMSA). It mainly helped African nations export products and raw materials into the United States. I performed research on trade statistics, assisted with office administration, and helped organize a workshop at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). I had two supervisors: a woman from Ethiopia, and her assistant, a man from Kenya. These sweethearts never hesitated to assist me.”

NORTH KOREA FREEDOM COALITION (NKFC)

“My second internship was at the North Korea Freedom Coalition, a nonprofit organization working to help North Koreans resist a dictatorship. I sometimes participated in volunteer programs, and I felt appreciative toward the American people because they worked so hard to help in this regard even though North Korean freedom had nothing to do with them. I mainly worked on translations of publications or web-pages on North Korean issues; I translated from English into Korean and from Korean into English.”

KOREA ECONOMIC INSTITUTE

“I am currently working at my last internship, which is with the Korea Economic Institute – an educational think-tank that provides the American people with information on Korea; it also gives the Korean government and other institutions facts about current events in the Unites States. I work mostly on reports, which I write after attending conferences or programs on U.S.-Korean topics. I learned a lot from this internship. I really appreciate every KEI staff member. I have one more month left until my internship    Ji-Hoon Jeong, who used the nickname “Michael,” in ends in late January. (I had applied for an          Hollywood beside star of pop singer Michael Jackson extension of my J1 visa in order to work longer at KEI and take full advantage of this challenging internship.)”

“I had both good times and bad times in D.C., but I believe that everything I experienced made me a stronger, better person, and I never doubt that my work in the United States will be a catalyst for creating a brighter future. I appreciate every staff member at the Washington Internship Program, especially Dr. Bayer, who helped me in many ways with these great opportunities and showed me hospitality. I will never forget everything here in D.C.”

Back to Sample internships main page