S. Korea resumes school trips from Japan

Korea is now reopening school trips from Japan that were suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism announced that 37 students from Luther Senior High School in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kumamoto will be visiting South Korea for five days starting from Tuesday. The students will be visiting the southwestern city of Jeonju and Seoul, where they will have the opportunity to interact with students from a sister school in Jeonju and explore the famous landmarks such as Jeonju Hanok Village, Gyeongbokgung Palace, N Seoul Tower, and Lotte World.

Japanese students have been taking school trips to Korea since 1972. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these trips were halted in 2020. The students from Luther Senior High School will be the first to participate in a school trip to Korea in three years since the pandemic broke out.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has announced its support for expanding educational trips and will provide assistance for school trip programs catering to the interests of Japanese students. The Ministry has stated that approximately 100 school officials from Japan will be invited to Korea during the summer vacation for a pilot tour. It added, "We will work hard to increase the exchange of school trips between the two countries."


Jeong-Eun Kim kimje@donga.com