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King Sejong Institute celebrates 11 new branches at Seoul opening ceremony

Published: 21 Jul. 2025, 15:47 Updated: 22 Jul. 2025, 09:11

YOON SEUNG-JIN
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King Sejong Institute Foundation's acting president Choi Hyun-seung, eighth from left, and leaders of the newly designated King Sejong Institutes take a commemorative photo at the 17th World Korean Educator Conference on July 21 at the Shilla Hotel in Jung District, central Seoul. [KING SEJONG INSTITUTE FOUNDATION]

The King Sejong Institute Foundation (KSIF) recognized the achievements of Korean language educators and King Sejong Institutes worldwide in the past year while also celebrating newly designated branches.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, KSIF held the opening ceremony for this year’s World Korean Educator Conference on Monday at the Shilla Hotel in Jung District, central Seoul.

Marking its 17th anniversary, the World Korean Educator Conference invites educators teaching at King Sejong Institutes abroad, as well as Korean language educators both in and outside Korea, to strengthen their expertise through the latest teaching methodologies .

This year’s event brought together more than 300 Korean language educators, including 162 teachers from 107 King Sejong Institutes across 49 countries.

“Korean language and culture are resonating with the world more deeply and powerfully than ever before,” said first lady Kim Hee Kyung in a video message.

“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of Korean language educators at King Sejong Institutes, the seeds of Korean language and culture have spread across the globe, allowing us to look forward to a bright future for our culture.”

First lady Kim Hee Kyung's video message is played on a screen at the 17th World Korean Educator Conference held on July 21 at the Shilla Hotel in Jung District, central Seoul. [KING SEJONG INSTITUTE FOUNDATION]

At the event, awards were presented to outstanding teachers, four King Sejong Institutes were recognized for excellence and certificates were awarded to 11 newly designated institutes.

Park In-seon from the King Sejong Institute in Budapest received the top prize, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award, for her teaching model that blends Korean writing classes on social media with cultural and language exchange programs.

Lee Bo-hyun from the Luxembourg King Sejong Institute and Lee Seul from the Manama King Sejong Institute in Bahrain won excellence awards. They shared examples of classes using AI-based translation apps, multilingual cultural education through Korean movies and audiobook projects using hangul.

The King Sejong Institutes run by Qingdao Binhai University in China, Kyrgyz International University in Kyrgyzstan, Asia-Ibero-America Cultural Foundation in Colombia and jointly by Kun Shan University and Korea University of Media Arts in Taiwan, were named this year’s four outstanding institutes.

Students take Korean classes at a King Sejong Institute in France in September, 2024. [KING SEJONG INSTITUTE FOUNDATION]

Eleven institutes around the world were newly designated King Sejong Institutes this year, including the University of Turin in Italy, Ain Shams University in Egypt and Ajou University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

“The designation of the University of Turin shows the strong ties between Italy and Korea,” Italian ambassador to Korea Emilia Gatto said in Korean. “The University of Turin is strong in fields like aerospace engineering and science and technology. I hope this will lead to even more exchange with Korea.”

The World Korean Educator Conference will continue through Wednesday with training programs aimed at enhancing the educators’ professional capacity.

According to KSIF, participants will receive hands-on training through practice-oriented lectures on various topics, including the future direction of King Sejong Institute's education, the role of teachers, strategies for using proficiency assessments, methods for teaching Korean through learning apps and Korean cultural education. Educators will also present lesson plans and share exemplary teaching cases during the period.

“We hope Korean language educators will become the driving force behind the future of Korean language expansion through this training,” said Lee Jung-woo, director of the Culture Ministry’s culture and arts policy office. “We will continue to strengthen these training programs to support educators working in the field to promote Korean language and culture.”

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN [[email protected]]