1. On October 29, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and United States Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Sung Kim signed a memorandum of understanding between the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US Department of State to extend their bilateral Work, English Study, Travel (WEST) Program and the Working Holiday Program (WHP) for five more years. For the next five years, the MOU will allow an annual maximum of 2,000 college students of the two countries to stay in each other’s countries for up to 18 months to study, seek employment as interns or others, and travel.

° Under the MOU, Korean college students can take part in the WEST Program, which allows them to stay in the US for up to 18 months studying English (2-5 months), working as interns (12 months) and traveling (1 month).

° The MOU will allow US college students to participate in the WHP in the ROK, staying in the country for up to 18 months for tourism and work.

2. At the MOU-signing ceremony, Foreign Minister Yun noted that the WEST Program, where a cumulative 1,800-odd students took part over the past five years, has evolved into a program symbolizing the friendship between the two countries, as it is considered a result of the penetration of the achievements of the ROK-US alliance into lives of the citizens of the two.

° The Minister stressed that the ROK government will focus its diplomatic capabilities to: help Korean youth go abroad with global competitiveness in pursuit of opportunities and dreams; and attain achievements tangible to the Korean people, such as securing a US visa quota for Korean professionals.

3. The MOU was concluded as a follow-up measure to the agreement reached between Presidents Park Geun-hye and Barack Obama in their summit talks in May, which calls for extending the two Programs as projects to improve the convenience of the peoples of the two countries.

4. The extension of the WEST and the WH Programs is expected to help Korean college students obtain knowledge on and experience in the US through English language studies and internships in the country, and US participants better understand Korean culture, thereby boosting youth exchanges and laying groundwork for the friendship between the two countries.

5. The ROK government will continue rendering its utmost support for programs aimed to promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries to move smoothly forward and fulfill their purposes. The government will also make active efforts to provide young people of the ROK with more opportunities to live and work overseas and grow as global talent through various experiences overseas. 


                     Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA 

*unofficial translation