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.

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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.