By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
The Korean Education Center in Tashkent has long served as a bridge linking Uzbeks to Korean language and culture.
And Kim Jung-seuk, the center director, is a man with high hopes for the campus as a Korean seat of learning.
He is something of a visionary _ he knows the center has challenges up ahead _ but, for now at least, what satisfies him greatly are the many alumni who walk away happy with the time they spent learning in its classrooms.
``I am especially happy that we can help nurture ethnic Koreans here and create excellent manpower for the future,'' Kim told The Korea Times in an e-mail interview.
Established in May 1992, the center has been devoted to promoting Korean language and culture in a country which holds the largest number of ethnic Koreans in Central Asia.
With a number of classes on language and culture, it is the largest of a total of 39 Korean education centers spread across the world.
It bears 32 lecture rooms, along with an auditorium, library, conference rooms and dormitories. During the spring semester, there were 1,370 students studying Korean language and 170 attending teacher training sessions and computer classes.
The center stages an arts festival and traditional plays during a summer school program to help Uzbeks better understand Korean culture and tradition. It runs two episodes of Korean dramas daily and films weekly for free.
Kim, who has headed the center since August 2007, said he hopes the Korean government can provide more financial aid to help with the staging of more events and festivals.
Uzbekistan has a population of 22 million people, who make up a wide spectrum of ethnic groups and cultures. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south.