Inside South Korea’s Social Impact

  It is hot. It is simply too hot. Every day feels like living inside a scorching furnace.   Anyone who has visited South Korea during the summer knows just how intense it gets. The sun is blazing, driving temperatures sky-high, while the high humidity naturally restricts daily activities. To make matters worse, the unavoidable summer rainy season known as Jangma pushes the discomfort index to its peak.   Whenever I hear the term 'climate crisis,' the first thing that comes to my mind is 'a scorching summer.' Relentlessly hot weather and overwhelming downpours. Even today, I am directly experiencing this intense heat driven by the climate crisis.   🌝Climate Crisis Does Not Impact Everyone Equally   Yet, many people still view the 'climate crisis' as a distant concern — an abstract problem centered around carbon emissions or melting glaciers. However, climate disasters such as heatwaves, severe cold snaps, and urban flooding do not impact everyon...

Jung-woong Park, Team Lead at Impact Alliance, builds networks through various engagement activities. (Photo courtesy of Jung-woong Park)   For the social impact ecosystem to expand and thrive, healthy networks are essential. Within a network, people spend time collaborating, engaging in intense debates, and uniting to solve shared social problems. However, because a network is built between human beings, it cannot be forced or manufactured overnight. It is only possible when people willingly offer their time and hearts.   In the previous article, we published the first interview with Jung-woong Park, Team Lead at Impact Alliance and a community specialist in Korea's social impact ecosystem. He introduced Impact Alliance — an association of impact-driven organizations — and shared his unique know-how for building a healthy community.   👉👉Read Related Article [Interview] Impact Ecosystem Multi-Directional Interpreter (Part 1): The Connector of the Social Impact...

  If I were to pick someone I met most frequently during my years as a journalist, he would undoubtedly be at the top of the list. Wherever people were being connected, and whenever communities and networks were taking root, Jung-woong Park was always there. This is the story of Jung-woong Park, Team Lead at Impact Alliance.   I reached out to him for an interview to record his journey on this blog. Looking back, despite him constantly moving across the field to connect South Korea's social impact sector, this was actually our first formal interview. During our conversation, he smiled and shared a metaphor:   'The night sky is beautiful because stars are scarce. Even if there is only a single North Star in a dark, pitch-black sky, that star shines immensely bright and beautiful. I believe that if our world has just that many good people, it is already bright and beautiful enough.'   This article captures the interview with Jung-woong Park, who is dedicate...