A student majoring in Chinese language and literature at Kookmin University won the award of Distinguished Delegation from participating in a national Model United Nations that took place in the New York Manhattan Sheraton Hotel. His name is Byung-Eun Park and he is now studying at City College in New York as an exchange student. The award he received is given to the team placed second in the competition.

The competition was held for five days and four nights at the Sheraton Hotel. Throughoutthe competition, time was considered asreally important as at any time they could pass a resolution through cooperation and communication with students representing other countries. The country Mr. Park participated as a representative was Uruguay. He believes that the preparation that he did before the competition helped him win that award.

Before participating in the National Model United Nations, he took a class, ‘Model United Nations’, at the City College of New York. He had a deep interest in the Model United Nations, but he could not participate in such a competition in Korea due to his busy schedule at that time. However, this time, he had a strong will to participate in the competition and luckily, he was chosen as one of the participants. In each class, students presented a case study and debated on controversial issues. Students also prepared a position paper which represents each country's stance and they also did Model United Nation simulation in order to prepare for the real competition.

In the real competition, the participants had the opportunity to take special lectures from an expert, and they also enjoyed the social party. Moreover, they participated in various programs that covered various issues such as learning about conference procedures and visiting the United Nations embassy. Mr. Park felt that it was really exciting to participate in the process of passing a resolution at the UN Headquarters as one of the representatives.

Mr. Park summarizes the benefits of participating in the National Model United Nations into three benefits. First, participants can learn each country's political stance and get to know how a real conference takes place at the United Nations. Secondly, the participants can develop diplomacy abilities and learn other nations’ diplomatic attitudes. Lastly, the participants can get to know many other students and can widen their appreciation and make more personal connections.

- The Kookmin Review
Reporter

Kookmin Review Yeong-Hwi Yoo