Czech Ambassador Ivan Jančárek. left, and Moon Mi-seon, a 21-year-old student at Kyung Hee University, pose for a photo with a certificate of participation during the "A Day with Ambassador" diploma ceremony in Seoul on May 13. [EMBASSY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC TO KOREA]
Diplomacy is often perceived as a series of high-level meetings behind closed doors, but for Moon Mi-seon, a Korean university student, it was a day of moving through rooms most people never enter — an ambassador's briefing, a lawmaker's office and a newspaper's editorial floor — as the latest participant in the Czech Embassy's "A Day with Ambassador" program.
Moon, a 21-year-old political science major at Kyung Hee University, spent Wednesday shadowing Czech Ambassador Ivan Jancarek. The program, now in its third year, places students with demonstrated interest in diplomacy, politics or economics alongside working diplomats for a full day of professional engagements.
The day began with a briefing by Irish Ambassador Michelle Winthrop on the complexities of the European Union and the Ireland-Britain relationship.
People Power Party Rep. Kim Gunn, right, speaks with Czech Ambassador Ivan Jančárek and "A Day with Ambassador" winner Moon Mi-seon at his office in the National Assembly in western Seoul on May 13 as part of the program. [EMBASSY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC TO KOREA]
The delegation then moved to the National Assembly to meet Rep. Kim Gunn of the People Power Party, the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and a veteran former diplomat.
Kim, who keeps a photograph of himself in
hanbok
(traditional Korean dress) presenting credentials to the British monarch in his office, recommended Harold Nicolson’s "Diplomacy" as the most important book for any aspiring diplomat like Moon, saying its lessons on negotiation and statecraft remain relevant today.
After a luncheon at the Czech restaurant Moravia in Seoul — attended by past program participants — the delegation visited the Korea JoongAng Daily headquarters in Mapo District, western Seoul, for a meeting with Executive Editor Choi Ji-young.
There, Jancarek made a case for why diplomats need journalists.
"For a diplomat, it is incredibly important to engage with journalists; it is a tool to actually discuss your own views and the views of your country towards the Koreans," he said. "If you have your own ideas and they are not being shared well, your ideas are not that [effective]."
Korea JoongAng Daily Executive Editor Choi Ji-young, left, meets with Czech Ambassador Ivan Jančárek and "A Day with Ambassador" winner Moon Mi-seon at the Korea JoongAng Daily headquarters in Mapo District, western Seoul, on May 13. [EMBASSY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC TO KOREA][CZECH EMBASSY]
He described established outlets as more reliable than social media for reaching decision-makers, citing the Korea-Czech nuclear power project as a case in which media coverage had been key to communicating shared national interests.
Moon secured her place in the program not through a written application but through a video submission — a format the embassy used to filter out AI-generated entries. She chose Franz Kafka as her subject, reading his work not as literature but as a lens through which to think about justice and state power. His short story "In the Penal Colony," she said, shaped how she thinks about what a just state should look like.
"I learned how I should be as an international relations expert and what justice should be in this kind of crisis-ridden world," she said.
The "A Day with Ambassador" program is open to domestic and international students enrolled at Korean universities.
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