RoK President Yoon Suk Yeol and Vietnamese students at the Vietnam National University - Hanoi, Hanoi, June 22 (Photo: Office of the President of the RoK) Hanoi (VNA) – Over 50,000 students arestudying Korean at more than 60 universities and colleges in Vietnam,making it the top Asian language in terms of the training scale.
According to Office of the President of the Republicof Korea (RoK), Vietnam has the largest and most comprehensive training andresearch programmes for the Korean language and culture in Asia.
Speaking during a visit to the Vietnam NationalUniversity - Hanoi on June 22, RoK President Yoon Suk Yeol highlighted that Korean has been chosen by many young people in Vietnam to learn, not justuniversity but also high school and secondary school students.
Nearly 80 secondary and high schools teach Korean as asecond foreign language. In 2021, the language began to be taught as a first foreignlanguage on a trial basis.
In 2021, Vietnam ranked first in the number ofinternational students in the RoK with 70,200, about 40% of them language learners. Along with Japan, the RoK are most favoured overseasdestinations for Vietnamese students.
According to Dr. Tran Thi Huong, Dean of the Facultyof Korean Language and Culture, University of Foreign Languages and InternationalsStudies, Vietnam National University - Hanoi, the movement of studying Korean began when the two countries officially established diplomatic relations in December1992. Since then, the number of language learners has increased in line withthe unprecedented development of the partnership.
Besides, the strong investment of Korean conglomerates,including Samsung, LG, SK, Posco, Hyundai, and Lotte, is a push for the learning of the language as the demand for human resources with proficiency inKorean is increasing.
As of April, the RoK wasthe largest foreign investor with nearly 82 billion USD in registered capital,second in development aid (ODA) and third in trade in Vietnam./.
