Jung Woo-sung Joins Street Campaign for World's Refugees

Actor Jung Woo-sung watches a woman sign a petition to help global refugees in downtown Seoul on Wednesday. /Courtesy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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Actor Jung Woo-sung promoted a campaign to help global refugees on a street in downtown Seoul on Wednesday.

He took part in the street campaign with other volunteers in front of the Korean office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

He encouraged people to sign up to help refugees live with human dignity at least with minimum sustenance and shelter. "A place to sleep, a job to make a living and a school to educate children are basic rights of everyone in the world", he said.

Jeong has been working to raise awareness on the humanitarian crisis since May 2014 first as the UN commission's honorary advocate and then as honorary ambassador to which he was promoted in June last year.

Jeong himself had lived in a shanty town until he was in middle school and that experience helped him understand refugees, he said.

He also said that Korea rebuilt the country with the help from the UN after the Korean War, so Koreans may be in a better position to understand refugees.

The petition campaign is being conducted to encourage countries around the world to guarantee education for all refugee children, safe homes for refugee families and jobs or vocational education for all refugees. Some 470,000 people have signed up in Korea as of Wednesday. The refugee agency plans to submit the list of signers to the UN Headquarters next month.

"I am proud of the activists who are working hard in the hot weather. I hope people will give refugees a helping hand", Jeong said.