Organizers of Neil Armstrong Middle School's annual student trip to South Korea have monitored the country's political climate for months, and hoped tensions with North Korea wouldn't force them to cancel the trip.
The Oregonian’s continuing coverage of the damage caused by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.Chester Browning, director of Neil Armstrong's Korea Studies Program, sent a letter to Forest Grove School District staff on Friday, explaining parents' decision to cancel the trip.
The group of 17 students had spent months fundraising and attending after school classes to prepare for the visit.
But after the March 11 earthquake, safety became a concern. South Korea is currently safe for travel, but concerns that radiation from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant could spread to South Korea spurred the cancellation.
Browning met with parents,
Potter said district officials are hopeful students will be refunded for most or all of the $1,575 program fee. The trip has been a Neil Armstrong tradition for many years, Potter said. It has only been canceled one other time, immediately after the Iraq war broke out.
"I have met one-on-one with some of the students, and, while they expressed their deep disappointment, they do understand the reasons behind the decision," Browning said in the letter to staff. "We'll just have to hope everything calms down around the world, and we'll try again next year!"
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