A bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on Working Holiday Program between Korea and Ireland was signed in Dublin on December 21, 2009, by the Korean Ambassador to Ireland Cho Tae-yong and Assistant Secretary of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs John Neary.

The Korea-Ireland Working Holiday Program, which will take effect once domestic procedures are completed in the two countries, allows young people in Korea and Ireland to stay in the other country for up to 1 year traveling and working, while taking language courses for up to 6 months. Korean nationals aged 18-30 can participate in the program.

With the signing of the MOU, young Korean people can stay in Ireland at low cost for a long period of time following a simple procedure, and experience language and culture of Ireland first hand. Also, the program is expected to increase exchanges between Korean and Irish young people, who will lead the future relations between the two countries.

Ireland is the 7th country to sign an agreement on working holiday program with Korea, following Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, France, and Germany. About 40,000 young people in Korea participated in the program last year alone. With the aim to provide more youngsters an opportunity to gain foreign experience, the Foreign Ministry will expand the quota of participants for countries which already have an agreement with Korea, and proceed to sign such agreements with major countries which do not have an agreement with Korea.