Melissa Oh
Print Journalism Major
Central Washington University
U.S.A.


I interned at the Donga Ilbo from August 4-August 30. I learned a lot
through my internship. As a journalism major, I found the internship
invaluable to my future career. There were definite positives and definite
negatives to working as an international intern.
The positives include getting to work with reporter Pak Hyeong Jun.
Pak Sunbae let me accompany him on interviews with expatriates at Samsung
and Hyosung. I enjoyed his management style because it is very flexible.
I also enjoyed coming up with story ideas about the foreigner experience.
When my coworkers took me out to dinner and drinks, and a couple of
lunches and coffees, they were very nice. I also enjoyed how my
supervisors worked very closely with me on my report about Internet
Protocol Television.
One of the most fun experiences I had was a tour of the building, and
getting to talk to many employees of the Donga Media Group.
The negatives were that I often did not have a clearly defined role as a
foreign intern. Because my Korean is limited, I felt that I sometimes could not
communicate well, although my coworkers spoke very good English.
This meant that I had a few days of little to no work. However, this meant
that I had a lot of flexibility in the work that I could do. I sometimes wished
that on days when I had no defined assignments, I would be allowed to work
from home.
In conclusion, I think that the most valuable aspect of this internship was
the experience working at a large media company.
I learned how to better advocate for myself the work that I wish to do.
I also learned about the Korean workplace, which will be helpful in my
job search next summer in Korea.
And, I made many professional connections that I hope to draw on when
I have questions.