In the fall of 2024, a revisit program organized by the Korea Foundation brought Peace Corps Volunteers from the 1960s and 1970s back to South Korea to reconnect with the people and communities they once served.
From 1966 to 1981, more than 2,000 Peace Corps volunteers from the United States were sent to the Republic of Korea (South Korea)—a country still struggling in the aftermath of the Korean War. These volunteers primarily worked as English teachers and healthcare workers, playing a significant role in the country’s re-development by creating educational curricula and helping to build crucial medical infrastructure. Today, South Korea stands tall as an economic powerhouse, and the country continues to recognize the vital role Peace Corps volunteers played in its economic growth. To honor their contributions, the Korea Foundation, a non-profit public diplomacy organization affiliated with South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, launched the Peace Corps Revisit Program in 2008. This program offers annual opportunities for former volunteers to reunite with their previous service sites and witness firsthand the many ways in which South Korea has evolved.
Between October 26th and November 2nd, 2024, a group of 31 Peace Corps volunteers and their families spent 8 days traveling around the peninsula, with the trip culminating in tearful hugs and shared stories at their respective volunteer sites. Starting in Seoul, the former volunteers visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received lectures on US-ROK relations as well as the Korean education system. They also visited the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), South Korea’s government agency for international development and humanitarian aid, to discuss the value of volunteering in shaping individual lives and the futures of generations to come. As an example of the Peace Corps’ lasting impression on Korea, KOICA modeled its overseas volunteer program--World Friends Korea (WFK)--after the Peace Corps. Since 2009, WFK has sent volunteers to more than 40 countries, becoming the first Peace Corps recipient country to establish its own international volunteer initiative.
As the only country that routinely invites Peace Corps volunteers back through government sponsored programming, South Korea has never forgotten the trust and friendship forged in the challenging post-war years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Foundation shipped surprise COVID-19 medical care packages to more than 500 former volunteers in the United States. In a 2020 video address to Peace Corps volunteers, Gunn Kim, South Korea’s former Deputy Minister for Political Affairs, reflected on Peace Corps’ impact on the country’s development, stating:
“...You helped enhance the public health of Korea. Thanks to your dedication, Korea has become one of the best examples in the world on how to fight the pandemic. Korea, an aid recipient turned donor country, has recently provided COVID-19 testing kits and face masks to many developing countries...by giving development aid, we are following the footsteps and legacy of the Peace Corps volunteers who showed their benevolence to and donated their talents for Koreans.”
The legacy of service began in the early years of the Peace Corps’ involvement in South Korea, when volunteers played a critical role in addressing urgent health crises. To counter the tuberculosis outbreak exacerbated by the Korean War, Peace Corps volunteers were dispatched to medical centers and clinics in rural areas that lacked government funding and trained medical personnel. With many volunteers being trained medical or paramedical professionals, they provided treatment for tuberculosis, leprosy, and other communicable diseases. Alongside their medical duties, the volunteers were responsible for developing a health record system, mapping locations of active cases and providing health education presentations. One group of Peace Corps volunteers even wrote an album about tuberculosis prevention entitled “Tomorrow without TB” in 1969, jointly produced by the Korean Tuberculosis Association, in which they sing, “Don’t question, but get a checkup. Then we will have a tomorrow without Tuberculosis.”
Although the country they returned to was vastly different from the one they knew in their youth, the Peace Corps volunteers were proud to see South Korea’s progress. Alan Taylor, a member of the first Peace Corps cohort to Korea in 1966, noted in an interview to the Korea Foundation that while “the old Korea was beautiful to me,” it was gratifying to see how far the country had come. South Korea’s growth stands as testament to the resilience and hard work of its people—and the contributions of those who helped along the way. As the Peace Corps Revisit Program ensures the legacy of this partnership endures, past and present generations continue to honor the lasting spirit of cooperation, friendship, and shared progress between South Korea and the United States.
Emma Potts is a Spring 2025 Young Professional at the East-West Center in Washington. Emma recently graduated from Columbia University, majoring in Political Science and East Asian Languages & Cultures.