- Expansion of 248 King Sejong Institutes in 85 countries around the world, designating the establishment of the first King Sejong Institute in 6 countries: Peru, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Iceland, Austria, and Slovenia

 - Enhancing the brand value of King Sejong Institute, an educational institution specializing in the Korean language, in the age of 100,000 King Sejong Institute students

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST) announced that as a result of the New Designation of King Sejong Institute 2023 with the King Sejong Institute Foundation (Chairman LEE Hai Young, KSIF), 19 institutes would be newly designated in 16 countries. As of 2023, it is now possible to learn Korean at 248 institutes in 85 countries around the world.

As K-culture spreads beyond Asia to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the demand to learn Korean rapidly increases. When King Sejong Institute (KSI) was first established in 2007, there were only 740 students; nevertheless, in 2022, for the first time, the number of students enrolled in KSI surpassed 100,000[1] to 117,636, objectively showing the growing popularity of Korean language studies.

In response to the high demand for Korean language studies, a total of 81 institutions from 35 countries applied for the 2023 contest for the designation of a new KSI. Through local due diligence and inspection as well as documents, the KSI Designation Review Committee, which is comprised of experts from various fields such as Korean language education and overseas regions, examines the demand and supply status of Korean language studies, conditions of facilities such as KSI operating institutions’ lecture rooms and reference rooms, and capabilities of the workforce, which includes Korean language instructors and operating personnel. After reviewing the above for around four months through interviews, the final 19 locations were selected.

In particular, as the first branches were established in six countries, including Peru, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Iceland, Austria, and Slovenia, more specialized Korean language education became possible.

“Learning languages is the key to cultural exchange that promotes understanding and connectivity between cultures, and the spread of K-culture is again leading to an increased interest in learning the Korean language,” said JUNG Hyang Mi, Culture Policy Director-General at the MCST. “While expanding the designation of KSIs to the world, we will advance KSI services by diversifying curricula, Korean language experts, and textbooks tailored to learners’ learning purpose and level. Through this, we will do our best to establish ourselves as a reliable Korean language education institution with the KSI brand.”