APIL Internship Experience Afterthought (8th Jonathan Kim)

APIL Internship Experience Afterthought

Hello everyone! I am Jonathan Kim, a 8th Intern, who had the privilege of working at APIL for 6 months.

The 6 months-period I spent interning at APIL was definitely one of the most memorable time in my life. Although 6months could be considered as “pretty long” by many people, the time flew by as fast as a bullet.  Perhaps it was because it was also one of the most enjoyable time of my life, meeting with so many talented, yet fun, kind, and humanistic individuals also working at APIL at the time.

In the course of my interning at APIL, I was able to experience so many things that touched me so deeply that I will probably remember for the rest of my life. There were two particular experiences that were most memorable to me. First, I had the chance to interview with several refugee applicants who shared their life stories with us. There were some clients who had fled from persecutions by their fellow neighbors and citizens at home country in Pakistan for practicing their Christian faith. There was one client I interviewed while visiting the Hwaseong Detention Center, who had fled from Boko Haram attack for guaranteeing religious freedom to his tribesmen, after they burned his village. As the result of the ruthless attack from Boko Haram, he had lost his wife and mother, never to be found.

Another most memorable experience at APIL was accompanying a refugee from Middle Eastern country to mental clinic. He had been detained in South Korea for many years, where he was effectively persecuted by the immigration control, before finally being granted refugee recognition in Korea. As a result of his long detention however, he had developed clinical depressions.  I had the privilege of accompanying him to the mental clinic every other week, and during this time I was able to develop close friendship with him, who touched me so deeply in many different ways, and I am certain that I had the chance to mature greatly as a person thanks to this experience.

Through all my experiences at APIL, I had the chance to reflect again how fortunate I was, to be born and raised in such safe country, where I can have any political beliefs and practice whatever religion of my choosing. In fact, having been raised as a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian, a rather uncommon sect of Christian denomination often criticized as “heresy,” I must say I am especially fortunate that I do not have to worry about being persecuted for belonging to an “heresy”-sect of Christianity. These experiences helped me mature as a person, and further strengthen my passion of becoming a “lawyer in the best sense” whether in private sector or public-interest sector, who is able to assist clients in their various legal needs in a humanistic manner. 
  

  
To conclude, in the afterthought of my initial application process for, and the experience of, my internship at APIL, I have learned so much. I had initially applied for the position out of an abstract hope to do something “meaningful” for the marginalized minorities and foreigners in South Korea. During my time at APIL, I had the chance to witness areas that may still be lacking in terms of international social justice, what needed to be done, and what I can do as a future lawyer to help promote and further international social justice. During my time at APIL, I personally experienced and watched (whom I would like to call) “The Fantastic Four” attorneys dealing with all the refugee applicants from various countries, who worked so hard and earnestly to help their clients, while at the same time being a real “human friend” for their client feeling lonely and hopeless in this distant and foreign land of Korea. As a result, I was able to reaffirm my belief in the importance of humanity and cultural awareness in the practice of law. As I continue my journey at Cornell Law School, I hope to develop a cultural and humanistic approach to my study and practice of law, so as to be able to be a “true friend” of my future clients as the biblical character Jonathan had been to King David, while being able to effectively assist them in their legal needs.

Written by 8th Intern, Jonathan Kim(김진우)