{"id":13968,"date":"2026-11-05T22:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T22:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13968"},"modified":"2026-11-05T22:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T22:07:09","slug":"remembering-peace-corps-15-years-in-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13968","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Peace Corps’ 15 years in Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer teaches a class in Korea in this undated photo. Courtesy of Korea Foundation<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It may come as a shock to many these days that the Peace Corps once had a mission in Korea. The U.S. volunteer agency sent more than 2,000 young volunteers to Korea between 1966 and 1981 in 51 waves, from K-1 to K-51. The country they arrived in was very different from the advanced nation Korea has grown to become.<\/p>\n

Coming out of the 1910-45 Japanese occupation and 1950-53 Korean War, Korea was for decades one of the poorest nations in the world. In the mid-1960s, when Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) began arriving, Korea’s hills were barren, and the gutters were filled with human waste. The authoritarian government maintained a strict curfew, barring people from the streets from midnight to 4 a.m. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy first impression was \u2018My god, what have I got myself into?\u2019\u201d Ed Klein (K-1) said in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the way it was,\u201d David McCann (K-1) said in 2019, \u201cand that didn’t strike me as strange.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Farmers plant rice in Samcheonpo, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1973. Courtesy of Bruce Kim<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

U.S. President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961 with an executive order. It was designed to serve three main goals: helping various countries meet their need for trained men and women, helping promote a better understanding of America abroad and helping Americans understand the culture of the people they worked with.<\/p>\n

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Peace Corps Volunteers hold a health road show in the late 1970s. Courtesy of Jim Mayer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Korea, PCVs provided development assistance primarily in English education in middle schools and universities, as well as health education and care, especially for patients suffering from tuberculosis and leprosy.<\/p>\n

“They taught English, served in public health, supported education and community development, but their greatest contribution was the relationships they built,” U.S. Ambassador to Korea Michelle Steel said in a recent video message. “They learned from Korea, they made lifelong friendships, and many carried those friendships home with them. They remind us that our relationship is not only about governments. It is about people.”<\/p>\n

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A group of Peace Corps Volunteers in Korea in the 1960s \/ Courtesy of Frank Concilius<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prior to arriving in Korea, the K-1 PCVs underwent 12 weeks of training in Hawaii, which covered intensive instruction in the Korean language, together with acculturation and skill training. According to Kim Kak, a former Korea Times staffer who took part in the training, they started off with a group of 120, of which 20 either resigned or were disqualified by the end. In later years, training was shifted from U.S. sites to Korea. <\/p>\n

The first 98 PCVs arrived in Korea on Sept. 16, 1966. Their first stop was the U.S. Embassy, where they attended lectures about Korea-U.S. relations. The next day, they met Korea’s Education Minister Kwon O-byong, and then began three days of training provided by the minister. After that, the volunteers were sent off to one of the 43 towns they had been assigned to.<\/p>\n

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The cover art of a vinyl record of music performed by U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in Korea released in 1969 \/ Courtesy of Korea Foundation<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n