A native of Burundi, Ghyslaine Kamikazi is bringing her fresh perspective and foreign background to help raise Korea’s cultural sensitivity and hone its competitive edge in the global market.

Kamikazi, who came to Korea four years ago for higher education, eagerly took the opportunity to gain experience as an intern for the Seoul city government this winter. The senior at Ehwa Women’s University is now working at the Digital Media City Gallery in Sangam-dong, western Seoul.

She is one of the 44 foreign students that were selected earlier this month for the Global Internship Program that runs through Feb. 11.

The GIP, the first-ever international internship program offered by a central or local government, started in 2008 to provide foreign students in Seoul universities with a chance to experience the city’s administration.

Working alongside Kamikazi, Sun Hanhan is another international intern from Shangdong Province, China.

The 26-year-old graduate student at Chung-Ang University, beating the 5-1 odds, is one of many Chinese students selected for the program, indicating a growing interest for Korea among other Asian countries.

Sun, who speaks fluent Korean, applied for the program in hopes of gaining important internship experience before she graduates.

“Through the program I am learning about Korean culture, economics and other basic office skills essential for my future,” said Sun.

Yuki Atae, who works down the street at the DMC Hi-Tech Industry Center, is also gaining experience for the future.

“I wanted to know how an office works and how to manage basic stuff like appointments, reports, and papers,” he said.

“I can bring back knowledge of the Korean market and how the relationship between Japan and Korea is tied in terms of business,” said the 22-year-old.

Though this internship opportunity may be a resume booster for the students, this is also a chance for Seoul to learn how to deal with an increasingly multicultural society and a global market.

“I am also learning about how the copyright system works between China and Korea,” said Sun.

Kamikazi is contributing to the gallery, through research on Africa.

“They asked me to do some research about what businesses Africans do in Korea, so that maybe Africans can invest here,” Kamikazi said.

Atae, a student from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, has also taken on a big project for the center.

“I’ve done translations and now I’m researching the Japanese market of mobile industries,” said Atae.

“I’m looking up their information and trying to make a small paper about those companies.”

He is fluent in both Korean and Japanese and studied business at Sogang University, before taking on the internship.

Since its launching in 2008, the biannual program has hosted 179 students from some 30 different countries.

This year’s GIP selected qualified applicants from a pool of 222 students from universities throughout Seoul.

The 44 students participating in from various countries like Nepal, Pakistan, Canada and Morocco are placed in 19 different subdivisions of the city, including the Seoul Global Center, the Sejong Center and the Yeongdeungpo Multicultural Village Center.

They are mostly involved in analyzing overseas examples of city administration, and resolving the everyday inconvenience which foreigners encounter while living in Seoul.

Through the internship Seoul not only hopes to nurture the students, but create a medium to educate the world about Seoul and raise possible diplomatic networks for the future.

By Robert Lee (rjmlee@heraldcorp.com)