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Participants on Nov. 17 take a group photo at an annual workshop hosted by King Sejong Institute held at the University of Language and International Studies in Hanoi.


Vietnam from next year plans to designate Korean a "first foreign language" and expand education of Korean to elementary school students.


Nguyen To Chung, deputy chief of the National Foreign Languages Project of Vietnam, on Nov. 17 gave a congratulatory speech to an annual workshop hosted by King Sejong Institute held at the University of Language and International Studies in Hanoi.


"If there's no major problem, Korean will be designated a first foreign language next year," he said.

A first foreign language in Vietnam is taught from elementary school, and a second one is an elective for middle and high school students.

In 2016, Vietnam chose Korean as a secondary school elective on a trial basis. The Southeast Asian nation has about 1,500 students of Korean at six junior or senior high schools.

Interest in learning Korean is heating up in Vietnam, with 32 universities there offering Korean as a regular subject and the Hanoi university in 2018 opening a master's degree program in Korean.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo gave a congratulatory video message at the workshop, saying, "I look forward to Korean becoming a regular second foreign language in Vietnam as soon as possible."


Korea.net