By Kim Ji-soo
Top Korean actor Jung Woo-sung is a prolific worker who wears many hats: actor, director and goodwill ambassador for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). On Saturday, he wore the goodwill ambassador hat to attend the 3rd Refugee Film Festival in Seoul and met reporters to talk about his latest trip to the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
He was in Erbil, Iraq, and visited Hasansham camp in northern Iraq.
"The time we spend at camps is short, but once you're there you are immersed, you start to listen to what they might want to say and eventually do say, and the communication starts," he said.
Jung said he is cautious when he visits the camps. "I first greet them in Korean. I ask them their name and then I say I am Jung Woo-sung from Korea, I am an actor but I am here with UNHCR to listen to your story and take it back and share it with Korea," Jung said.
"People vary, but over time, they open up and talk. For those who have been at the camp for a long time, they welcome us."
At the Hasansham camp, the heat and dire need for electricity and water pose environmental challenges for the refugees there, he said. The UNHCR, in its latest Global Trend Report, estimates that 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced in 2016, higher than the previous year. The 65.6 million figure comprises 22.5 million refugees, 40.3 million people displaced inside their own countries and 2.8 million asylum seekers as of end of 2016.
Asked why he supports the refugee cause, he said "It is just our problem," at a press conference held at the UNHCR's office in downtown Seoul.
Jung first started working with UNHCR in 2014 as honorary advocate and became an official goodwill ambassador in 2015. He has since visited refugee camps in Nepal, South Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq. "I did not take on this task thinking, ‘Oh, this is some goodwill that I can demonstrate' ― I knew it was work that required some time to learn and say that I have done it," he said.
Jung said he was initially afraid when he saw what an enormous task supporting the refugee cause was. When he was in South Sudan, they were serving meals at an airport hangar. When the meal time came, about 20,000 refugees arrived. "I realized the enormity of the task," he said. Even at the Hasansham Camp, Jung agonized that he needed to take a photo of a girl who was scarred on one side of her face by an explosion.
"But we have to know that refugees are people who have been displaced not by their own will but by external reasons, and as a result, are facing great difficulties," Jung said.
Jung likened their plight to the displacement Korean people experienced during the1910-45 Japanese occupation and the 1950-53 Korean War.
Jung first made his debut in 1994, hitting stardom with the film "Beat" (1997). He is a prolific actor with such recent hits as the "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" and "The Divine Move." He also became a director when in 2014 Jung, along with Chinese actors Francis Ng and Chang Chen, directed three short films for "Three Charmed Lives." This year, Jung narrated a film titled "Limbo" by Paul Wu, about a refugee family in Lebanon. The film was shown at the refugee film festival held here Saturday.
He said he is aware his film career allows him to assume responsibility as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador. But he doesn't necessarily want to highlight that side when he is serving for the UNHCR, he said.
Jung said he is not disappointed when Korean society and press continue to ask why we should help the refugees. "That's my job, to continue to spread awareness, along with the people here at UNHCR," he said. He pointed out Korea has an act governing refugees from 2012, which makes it a duty to help refugees. South Korea also joined the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1993.
"The staff at the camps, they said they experience great happiness when they see refugees return to their homeland. For the international workers, their dream is that there will no longer be camps. For me, I will know that my efforts in speaking out for the refugees have borne fruit when people stop asking me why we should help the refugees," he said.
UNHCR Korea Representative Naveed Hussain said he is grateful for the actor's contribution and at the same time urged the Korean government to expand its role in the international and domestic arena as well.
 |
| Actor and goodwill ambassador for UNHCR, Jung Woo-sung, speaks at a press conference held Saturday at UNHCR Korea office in downtown Seoul. / Courtesy of UNHCR Korea |
He was in Erbil, Iraq, and visited Hasansham camp in northern Iraq.
"The time we spend at camps is short, but once you're there you are immersed, you start to listen to what they might want to say and eventually do say, and the communication starts," he said.
Jung said he is cautious when he visits the camps. "I first greet them in Korean. I ask them their name and then I say I am Jung Woo-sung from Korea, I am an actor but I am here with UNHCR to listen to your story and take it back and share it with Korea," Jung said.
"People vary, but over time, they open up and talk. For those who have been at the camp for a long time, they welcome us."
At the Hasansham camp, the heat and dire need for electricity and water pose environmental challenges for the refugees there, he said. The UNHCR, in its latest Global Trend Report, estimates that 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced in 2016, higher than the previous year. The 65.6 million figure comprises 22.5 million refugees, 40.3 million people displaced inside their own countries and 2.8 million asylum seekers as of end of 2016.
Asked why he supports the refugee cause, he said "It is just our problem," at a press conference held at the UNHCR's office in downtown Seoul.
Jung first started working with UNHCR in 2014 as honorary advocate and became an official goodwill ambassador in 2015. He has since visited refugee camps in Nepal, South Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq. "I did not take on this task thinking, ‘Oh, this is some goodwill that I can demonstrate' ― I knew it was work that required some time to learn and say that I have done it," he said.
Jung said he was initially afraid when he saw what an enormous task supporting the refugee cause was. When he was in South Sudan, they were serving meals at an airport hangar. When the meal time came, about 20,000 refugees arrived. "I realized the enormity of the task," he said. Even at the Hasansham Camp, Jung agonized that he needed to take a photo of a girl who was scarred on one side of her face by an explosion.
"But we have to know that refugees are people who have been displaced not by their own will but by external reasons, and as a result, are facing great difficulties," Jung said.
Jung likened their plight to the displacement Korean people experienced during the1910-45 Japanese occupation and the 1950-53 Korean War.
Jung first made his debut in 1994, hitting stardom with the film "Beat" (1997). He is a prolific actor with such recent hits as the "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" and "The Divine Move." He also became a director when in 2014 Jung, along with Chinese actors Francis Ng and Chang Chen, directed three short films for "Three Charmed Lives." This year, Jung narrated a film titled "Limbo" by Paul Wu, about a refugee family in Lebanon. The film was shown at the refugee film festival held here Saturday.
He said he is aware his film career allows him to assume responsibility as a UNHCR goodwill ambassador. But he doesn't necessarily want to highlight that side when he is serving for the UNHCR, he said.
Jung said he is not disappointed when Korean society and press continue to ask why we should help the refugees. "That's my job, to continue to spread awareness, along with the people here at UNHCR," he said. He pointed out Korea has an act governing refugees from 2012, which makes it a duty to help refugees. South Korea also joined the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1993.
"The staff at the camps, they said they experience great happiness when they see refugees return to their homeland. For the international workers, their dream is that there will no longer be camps. For me, I will know that my efforts in speaking out for the refugees have borne fruit when people stop asking me why we should help the refugees," he said.
UNHCR Korea Representative Naveed Hussain said he is grateful for the actor's contribution and at the same time urged the Korean government to expand its role in the international and domestic arena as well.
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