Pukyong National University

The UN supporters and the PKNU social volunteering group gets media attention for their exceptional performances

- continuing newspaper reports and radio interviews

△ Hwang Min-Hye (left), representative of the UN supporters and Kim Dae-Han, representative of the social volunteering group in Pukyong National University. ⓒPhoto Lee Sung-Jae (PR team)

The outstanding performances of the student volunteer groups at Pukyong National University are introduced persistently in the media and are grabbing public attention.

Pukyong National University’s representative student volunteering service groups, ‘UN supporters of Pukyong (representative Hwang Min-Hye, 3rd-year student)’ and ‘PKNU social contribution volunteering group (representative Kim Dae-Han, 4th-year student, major of mechanical engineering)’ are the ones to be introduced.

The media recently covered their activities with titles such as ‘we never forget your grace for protecting peace in Korea’ <the Munhwa ilbo, Jan.17>, ‘UN supporters from PKNU visited the U.S. and held VA for Korean war veterans’ <the Busan ilbo, Jan.17>, ‘PKNU UN supporters, a student volunteer group, held VA for Korean war veterans in the U.S. <the Kookje daily news, Jan.18>, Pukyong National University students volunteering to repair a house for a disabled <the Busan ilbo, Jan.31>, PKNU volunteer group repairing houses for the disabled in Nam-gu <the Kukje daily, Feb.1>, ‘PKNU students volunteering to repair houses for the disabled <the Nocut news, Jan.31>.

What are these volunteer groups that are receiving a lot of attention from the media for their warm and unique volunteer activities?

The Pukyong UN supporters, a student peace volunteer corps, is a volunteer group unique to Pukyong National University that has personally visited the surviving veterans of Korean war and their families at home and abroad since 2009 to deliver gratitude to them.

The article introduced recently is about the activities of the students who visited Washington and New York in January, met the Korean war veterans and held veterans affairs for them to express their gratitude.

△ Pukyung UN supporters held veterans affairs in the U.S.

In addition, they support UN-related events, such as visiting the world's only UN memorial cemetery near the university and laying flowers, participating in excavating the remains of Korean War dead, and promoting the 727 armistice.

The <Busan english broadcasting (BeFM)>, which saw such an active performance, invited representative Hwang Min-Hye and others to the studio for an interview on the program ‘Inside out Busan’ on February 10th.

△ Hwang Min-hye (right) and others being interviewed by Busan english broadcasting.

Along with this, the PKNU social contribution volunteering group, which has been in service since 2006, is a volunteering service group that carries out various volunteer activities with the local community such as finding vulnerable households living near campus and supporting home repairs, overseas volunteering, youth mentoring and self-reliance support for local vulnerable households, and volunteer activities to select recyclables.

The news about them recently introduced in the media is that on January 30th and 31st, they visited neighbors in the area near the school and carried out home repairing activities such as papering, flooring, painting, and repairing.

△ The PKNU social contribution volunteering group carried out house-repair volunteering services.

They were also introduced to their active activities through a recent radio broadcast. On February 7, Jagalchi ajimae (aunt from Jagalchi) of <Busan MBC (standard FM)>, a radio program representing the Busan region, conducted a direct phone interview with Kim Dae-Han, the representative of this volunteering group.

△ PKNU social contribution volunteer group representatives and vice-representative students who visited households where they volunteered to repair houses and met neighbors.

As the terms of these two volunteer groups end this month, they are planning to announce the selection of new members in March 2023 through the school website and Whaleby and improving the participation rate of students in the new representative system, for the qualitative growth of volunteer services.

Hwang Min-Hye, the representative of the UN supporters of Pukyong National University shared her thoughts and aspirations for the future, saying, “Turn to War Busan, an event at the UN Memorial Park, or activities to express gratitude to war veterans abroad have always been of great significance to me. As a representative of the volunteer group, I felt a sense of duty as I led activities that I could not easily experience,” she added, “I want to live a life that strives to share bright energy and make people around me happy.”

Kim Dae-Han, the representative of the PKNU social contribution volunteering group, said, “When I volunteered to repair the house, the paint got on my hair and I had to bear with a haircut, and the memories of having fun with the members never leave my mind. There are so many moments we are touched by the words of thanks from the people we helped,” he added, “Just as the small determination to put my thoughts into action when I started volunteering has brought me to this point, I want to continue doing small things and volunteering in the future.” <Pukyong Today>