Shannah Marie Montales, a faculty member of the Literature and Language Studies Department of the Ateneo de Naga University, served as one of the seven Filipino delegates in the 17th ASEAN-Korea Future Oriented Youth Exchange Programme: ASEAN-Korea Youth Square held in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, South Korea on January 27-February 1, 2016.

With the theme “ASEAN-Korea Coming Together through Cultural Exchange,” the program gave opportunity to the participants from each ASEAN member state (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and South Korea to present their cultures and history through activities geared towards cultural exchange. This year’s programme emphasized the promotion of a sense of cooperation and mutual fellowship between the youths of the participating countries through various collaborative tasks and experiences.

The program was hosted by the National Council of Youth Organizations in Korea (NCYOK), a council for private youth organizations of Korea established to promote cooperative relations among domestic and international youth.