Interning in Pohang, South Korea

This summer I have the opportunity to intern in Pohang, South Korea. I have worked primarily under two under Regent Graduates who now teach at Handog International Law School (HILS), Professor Collier and Professor Mundy.

Along with teaching, Professor Mundy runs a NGO called the Women’s Hope Center. The Hope Center provides in-client (women who stay in the Center’s housing) and out-client support for women who need help. Whether women are escaping abuse, trying to get back on their feet, or are pregnant and do not have any other support, the Hope Center works to provide not only financial support, but job placement, education, and counseling from a Christian perspective. One of the centers primary demographics, especially for in-client support is young pregnant women.

The center is one of the few (maybe only) Christian crisis pregnancy centers in Korea. Even though abortions are illegal in Korea, they are still widespread and very common. Since the Korean culture is a shame-based culture, even Christian families often encourage their daughters to get an abortion rather to save the family from suffering public shame. The Hope Center works to show that even the women feel they cannot raise a child, other options like foster care, adoption or 24-hour babysitting are still feasible options.

For those that stay in-home, there are certain requirements such as budgetary restrictions and church participation. Every week I get to sit in and participate in the Hope Center meetings, and it has been humbling to see how hard they all work and sacrifice to make a difference.

My research this summer for the Hope Center has been to research and write a paper, which will be turned into a pamphlet, about how U.S. citizens may adopt Korean children legally and get them U.S. citizenship. Korea is very nationalistic, nearly every Korean you meet will be 100% Korean, and all will claim to be. Accordingly, they are very protective apprehensive about letting foreigners adopt their children or gaining citizenship. The pamphlet will work to explain complex law in a simple fashion to Americans who contact the Center, or other places the pamphlet will be distributed, so they can make an educated choice if adoption from Korea is right for them.



As abortion moves towards legalization in Korea, hopefully a pamphlet that lets people navigate the adoption process will make the prospects of adopting from Korea less daunting and will allow for more adoptions. By encouraging and making the path to adoptions easier, these young women will see they can still give their children a good life and alleviate a lot of the family pressure.
I work with two other Co-workers, the counselor Grace and office manager Wade. Both have been extremely welcoming to me. They have taken me out to try new Korean foods and even prepared food for me as well. Wade and I have also taken up table tennis once a week after work as well. To be able to help a center work to save lives and rescue young women in such an apparent way, with such great people, has been a blessing and an opportunity I am truly grateful for.

I have also been able to learn and explore much more about Korea. I lived in Korea previously for a year. Before I lived near Seoul and while I got to experience Korean culture, Seoul is still very Westernized. In Pohang, I have gotten to see more traditional temples and food, and have had a more traditional Korean experience.

Along with the Women’s Hope Center I have two other projects. The first is with Professor Collier, a Regent Law School graduate, who now teaches and Handong International Law School (HILS).
I am doing research on the massive Chinese infrastructure plan called “One Belt One Road” and the developmental and legal consequences that will arise from it for Mongolia and Korea. Professor Collier is working on a paper about the project and my research memo will help lay the foundation for him to write his paper. It has been a unique challenge. It is a topic that I had not heard of prior to coming to Korea. Basically, the Chinese hope to spend over a trillion dollars on infrastructure projects throughout Asia and Eastern Europe to link them into trading zones and increase connectivity between them. With this massive project, the Chinese look to pursue economic as well as geopolitical goals. This project will likely be around 25-30 pages when finished.

The other project is with one of the Korean professors at HILS, Professor Won. He is writing a chapter in a book about issues of law faced by different countries around the World. He is a Korean international law expert and has been chosen to write the section on Korea. He has had me find sources and research issues such as human rights offenses, the justification behind the Korean war, and rights of P.O.W.S.

Both these projects have been extremely interesting, and life outside of the internship has been great as well. I would encourage all future students to do this internship, especially those hoping to pursue law internationally. The research topics are all relevant and the teachers are incredibly knowledgeable on the topics. For instance, Professor Won had me read nearly the whole Geneva Convention and then helped talk me through how it applied specifically to the Korean War.

-Sam Kane

This post was written by a Center for Global Justice intern.  The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.

CGJ Student Staff Update: Brandan Goodwin

Hello all and God Bless! My name is Brandan Goodwin and I am finishing up my 1L year at Regent University School of Law. I am on the student staff at the Center for Global Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law. The Center has allowed me a wonderful opportunity this summer to go and work with the Parliament of Mongolia and participate in a study abroad partnered with Handong International Law School.

What an amazing opportunity! I am very excited to work with the Mongolian Parliaments only Christian Parliamentary and do meaningful legal work in advancing the rights of Christians and the Rule of Law.  I will be going June 15 – August 5. During this time I will be splitting time between both the parliamentarian’s office and working with the Mongolia Rule of Law institute working on meaningful projects to further rule of law across the region.  This is an a wonderful chance do to meaningful legal work outside of the lectures or classroom and work on projects that have a real world impact for the people of another nation.

This post was written by a Center for Global Justice student staff member.  The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.

Student Staff Projects for Fall 2016

To provide Regent Law students with practical experience in the legal protection of human rights, students volunteer with the center each semester for a minimum of 5 hours/week. Here is an overview of the projects that our student staff members are working on this semester:

IJM Uganda: International Justice Mission Uganda fights land grabbing, a terrible problem that affects thousands of widows and orphans in Uganda. In order to aid IJM's work, the Center is expanding a legal memo it drafted last semester on the legal doctrine of res judicata. The Center's memo will help IJM decide the best legal strategy to bring civil suits on behalf of widows whose land was stolen.

Kyampisi Childcare Ministries: KCM is a nonprofit organization in Uganda that fights child sacrifice. In order to aid KCM in its work of monitoring child sacrifice cases, as well as aid prosecutors, the Center is putting together a legal manual that outlines the steps involved in a child sacrifice case, applicable charges for the defendant, and various legal issues that will have to be addressed to have a successful prosecution.

Handong: The Center works in partnership with Handong International Law School to advance the rule of law and expand religious freedom in Mongolia.  This semester, the Center is drafting a legal memorandum relating to the implementation of homeschooling in Mongolia.

Shared Hope: Every semester the Center supports Shared Hope with the Protected Innocence Challenge (PIC).  The PIC is a 50-state survey designed to improve the laws of all 50 states as they relate to the sex trafficking of children. This semester, the Center is analyzing whether each state has vacatur laws that allow minor sex trafficking victims to have any convictions that resulted or related to their trafficking vacated rather than merely expunged.  When a sentence is vacated, it is completely erased from all existence, as opposed to expungement, which normally just seals the records of the conviction.  Vacation of a sentence thus offers greater protection to the victim.

Turkey Project: This semester the Center is planning on writing a short book that discusses the legal framework regarding secularism and religious freedom in Turkey.  Turkey is a very strategic country, situated between the west and the east, mostly Muslim but constitutionally secular, etc.  Recent events in Turkey, however, have the potential to upset this balance and make Turkey another Islamic state.  The booklet is thus intended to explain Turkey's constitutional commitment  to secularism and guarantee of the Free Exercise of Religion and (2) the illegality of many of the government's recent actions, including the ongoing state support of mosques. We intend to use the booklet as a means to educate those in Turkey about what Turkish law actually says and requires.

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights: The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is the body responsible for overseeing and implementing the major human rights treaty for Africa. The Center for Global Justice is currently praying about whether to become a certified non-profit organization (NGO) before the ACHPR, which hosts two sessions every year in order to address the status of human rights in the continent. Center Executive Director, Professor Jeffrey Brauch, will be attending the next session, which is to be held in The Gambia in October. We are drafting a legal memo on the ACPHR to help us identify if and how we can be involved and to better understand the major human rights issues that need to be addressed from a biblical perspective.

ADF International: As always, the Center is partnering with ADF International to monitor all cases before the European Court of Human Rights to ensure that we identify all cases on which ADF should intervene.

Jerusalem Institute of Justice: This semester the Center is continuing a project from last semester for JIJ on the Palestinian refugees. One of the primary points of disagreement between Israel and Palestine is what to do with the Palestinian refugees.  Palestine claims all refugees have a "right to return" to Israel. Israel claims that no such right exists.  We are analyzing the legal situation of the refugees, specifically looking at whether a future (or existing?) state of Palestine has an obligation under International Law to grant citizenship to the refugees.