Classroom Spotlight: Park Presents on Traveling in N. Korea
Sophie Park (Pardee ’20) was invited by Manjari Chatterjee Miller, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, to make a guest presentation in her IR 501 Conflict and Cooperation in Asia summer course on her experiences traveling in North Korea.
Park, who has visited North Korea six times (most recently in 2017), talked about her time in Pyongyang as a volunteer with the Korean American Medical Association (KAMA). The group brings together American and North Korean neurosurgeons who undertake surgeries at various hospitals in Pyongyang including Pyongyang Medical College, Red Cross Hospital, and Kim Manyu Hospital.
Park discussed volunteering her time in various capacities, acting as a photographer for the group and conducting inventory of donated medical equipment. Through a series of photographs she told of her time in Pyongyang not only with KAMA but also of instances where she was able to interact with North Korean citizens as well as students of her own age and play sports with them—even as she was accompanied everywhere by a minder.
Students in IR 501 Conflict and Cooperation in Asia had the opportunity to ask Park about her experiences including about the similarities and differences between North Korean and American students.