Peace Corps volunteers will soon be headed to Vietnam for 1st time

President Obama is in Vietnam
(Image credit: Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP/Getty Images)

President Obama will announce on Monday that the Peace Corps is coming to Vietnam for the first time since President John F. Kennedy launched the volunteer service organization in 1961, the Peace Corps said late Sunday. Obama landed in Hanoi on Sunday night for the first stop of a weeklong trip to Asia, with the Vietnam leg focused on increasing economic and security cooperation and a Japan portion dedicated to a G7 summit and historic visit to Hiroshima. The first Peace Corps volunteers in Vietnam are expected to focus on teaching English. More than 220,000 Americans have volunteered in 141 countries since 1961, and the Peace Corps has spent years negotiating expanding the program to Vietnam.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.