The government will increase the number of institutes overseas teaching Korean language to foreigners to 200 by 2016, as the continuing popularity of Korean pop culture boosts demand for learning the language, the culture ministry said on Wednesday.
The expansion was announced as part of the ministry's master plan to further develop Korean language.
Named after the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) king who invented the hangeul script, King Sejong Institutes offer language education programs teaching Korean as a second language. Currently, there are 59 such institutes, with about 20 run directly by the government and the rest run by civilian organizations with support from the government.
The popularity of Korean culture, known as "hallyu" in Korean, meaning the Korean wave, has been strong mainly in other Asian nations including Japan, China and Taiwan but spread to Europe and North and South American countries last year.
The number of Sejong institutes is set to rise to 90 by the end of this year.
About 15,000 foreigners around the world were taking courses at Sejong institutes as of the end of 2010, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)