South Korea journalism internship adds invaluable skills to his career toolkit

Fergus Goodall-Smith: "Experiencing a newsroom in Korea’s fast-paced, hyper-connected society was thrilling."

Arriving in South Korea, I didn’t know quite what to expect from the country, and the newspaper I would be working at.

Being a fresh graduate who didn’t study journalism, a lot of what I had learned has been self-taught, with a bit of a newsroom experience sprinkled in. I knew I was there to learn, and that this was something far outside my comfort zone.

The way I can best describe my time at the Korea JoongAng Daily is that it was the postgraduate journalism degree I never got. With the help of my kind, patient and incredibly knowledgeable colleagues, I grew so much as a person, and as a journalist.

Being a reporter is a difficult job and to do it in a foreign country without speaking the language was a challenge, but it was that challenge that made me feel so much more secure in my belief that journalism is my passion and that I can do it well back in Aotearoa.

Experiencing a newsroom in Korea’s fast-paced, hyper-connected society was thrilling, and the opportunity to put some stories to print in the higher echelons of the Korean business and education world gave me a taste for the pressure and reward that comes with journalism in this country.

From constant diplomatic struggles and threats coming from North Korea to widespread political protest over a ballot shortage during local body elections, witnessing all these events unfold from a newsroom was unique to say the least.

It was a unique time to be setting off overseas, as a journalism intern no less.

In Korea we felt the impacts of the US-Israeli war with Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil refining is a pillar of Korea’s dynamic economy, and I could feel anxieties the war was causing.

A phenomenon that really highlighted the reliance of fossil fuels on every part of life was the plastic bag catastrophe.

Unlike New Zealand, plastic bags are still commonly used in most retailers, but they rely on petrochemicals, now Koreans were being rationed in their use of plastic bags, and it caused quite a fuss.

It was inspirational to see Korea’s response to the oil shock in other areas.

South Korea is known for adaptability; they turned a poverty-stricken country with little to no natural resources into an economic powerhouse.

You could see an immediate pivot in the government and public’s thinking on renewable energy, and the positive economic effects new sustainable energy projects would bring.

Nearly every car I saw was electric, which was already helping buffer the economic tremors.

Korea’s longsightedness and future forwardness was truly amazing to see in action, and something Aotearoa could learn a thing or two from.

Covering a story on artificial intelligence models and their threat to Korea’s public and private sectors was a highlight of Fergus's time at the Korea JoongAng Daily

Being able to bring stories from New Zealand and connect them with Korea was another incredible experience, from shared histories during the Korean War to environmental issues that the other could learn from, I felt proud to bring some of my home to this country.

A highlight of my time at the Korea JoongAng Daily was breaking a story on artificial intelligence models and their threat to Korea’s public and private sector.

A new frontier model, Mythos developed by Anthropic, one of the major US AI firms, has made headlines for its ability to crack the world’s most secure firewalls.

Because Korea’s private sector is so huge, with corporations such as Samsung making up over 10 percent of the country’s GDP, national security comes hand in hand with private sector cyber protection. These firms, and the government, were attempting to gain access to Mythos to shore up their defences.

My team ended up securing comment from Korea’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, LG Electronics, and the National Security Agency, the top of the top of Korea’s power structures.

It was a rare thing getting responses from these giants and rarer for them to admit that artificial intelligence was posing serious risks to security.

On weekends, Fergus would often leave Seoul to explore some of the remoter parts of South Korea

The opportunity to stay in one place for three months was special in itself.

The things were so different to New Zealand that you get used to, and the routines I formed really made me feel like I was part of this country: picking up some of the language, going to football matches, climbing the country’s mountains, and sharing the odd soju with my co-workers.

The skills I learned at the Korea JoongAng Daily — accuracy, range of opinion, the value of social networks — are all invaluable parts of my toolkit now, and my thanks go to the Asia New Zealand Foundation for giving me that opportunity to grow, and my colleagues at Korea JoongAng Daily for giving me the time to learn.

I encourage anyone to put themselves forward for one of Asia New Zealand’s internships, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’ll remember forever.

The Foundation's media programme helps New Zealand journalists cover stories that shed light on Asia and on New Zealand’s ties to the region. We support journalists to build their knowledge of Asia by providing media travel grants, internships in Asian newsrooms and fellowships for senior journalists.

Our media internship programme supports New Zealand journalism graduates and working journalists to intern at news organisations in Asia.