TIFTON — Joseph Benson, a Tifton native, will be spending time in South Korea.

Benson will be participating in a diplomatic exchange program sponsored by the United States Congress and the Republic of Korea National Assembly. The program, which is put on by the State Department and Meridian International Center, is entering its 37th year.

“Its objective is to build up the friendship and mutual understanding between our country and the Republic of Korea,” Benson said. “We’re strong allies, but we want to make sure our people are allies too, not just our governments.”

Benson, 23, is a public policy major at Georgia State University.

“I’ve very interested in international affairs,” he said. He said that, as a lifelong Boy Scout, the value of serving his country was instilled in him early and he wants to represent his country well.

“I’m hoping to start a career working with the government in some form,” Benson said. “If we want to learn more and come up with new ideas we need to see how other people do things. It’s very different from us and they have different ways of doing things that I think we can learn from.”

Benson said that he likes that the program sponsors the delegates completely, so the only things they have to pay out of pocket are extras, like gifts and movies.

“While you do have to have a letter of recommendation from a congressman, it’s merit-based,” he said. “It’s not just about who you know. Also, because they don’t make you pay for anything, that makes it to where anyone can go if they’re qualified.”

Benson said that he got a lot of help with his application from Congressman Austin Scott’s office, who is his sponsoring congressman.

He will be spending a week in Washington D.C. and will spend some time hosting his Korean counterpart there before making the 12-hour flight to the Republic of Korea, where he will spend two weeks.

“They have a very interesting and unique culture,” Benson said. “They’re strong allies of the United States, so I’ve definitely always wanted to go over there.”

He will tour different parts of the country, such as the Gyeongbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Woljeongsa Buddhist Temple, the War Memorial of Korea and the Demilitarized Zone.

He will also spend a weekend being hosted by a Korean family.

Benson said that it is good manners to bring gifts to the hosts, so he contacted the Georgia Pecan Growers Association and the Georgia Peanut Commission for help.

“The Georgia Pecan Growers Association does trade missions to South Korea and other Asian countries,” he said. “Pecans are very popular over there. Both of them were very helpful with helping me get gifts that represent South Georgia.”

Follow Eve Copeland on Twitter @EveCopelandTTG.