Korean-language institute for Indonesian tribe to open next week

The first Korean-language institute will open early next week for an Indonesian minority tribe that has adopted the Korean alphabet as its official writing system, the culture ministry said on Thursday.

The Cia-Cia, a tribe of some 80,000 people living in the city of Bau-Bau, located on Buton Island in southeast Sulawesi, made headlines here in 2010 by becoming the first-ever foreign language speakers to choose the Korean alphabet, called "hangeul," to transcribe and preserve its fading spoken language.

The latest King Sejong Institute, set to open Monday in the Indonesian city, was established by Korea's Kyungpook National University in Daegu in cooperation with Indonesia's Muhammadiyah Buton University, the ministry said.

"We expect the local university's operation of the King Sejong Institute in Bau-Bau with support from the Korean government will help rejuvenate activities to promote Korean language in the country," Bang Sun-gyu, director of culture policy division of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, told reporters.

The opening was originally planned for September of last year but was delayed due to financial problems, according to the ministry.

Named after King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), who invented hangeul, the institutes run language education programs for foreigners learning Korean as a second language. Currently, there are 59 such institutes, with about 19 run directly by the government.

The ministry said 30 more King Sejong Institutes will be set up this year as the recent popularity of Korean pop music and TV dramas has increased demand for learning the language.

The "Korean Wave," known as "hallyu" in Korean, has been strong mainly in other Asian nations such as Japan, China and Taiwan but expanded to become popular in Europe and North and South American nations last year.

Of 15 new institutes to open in the first half of this year, four will be in China and one in each of 11 other countries -- Taiwan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Algeria, Germany, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Peru and the United States.

The government will announce 15 more new sites for Sejong institutes in the second half of the year, the ministry said.

"A total of 38 regions in 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Peru, applied to be new sites for Sejong Institutes," Bang said. "We expect the world's interest in K-pop and TV dramas will be linked to demand for Korean language study and the study will again help foster interest in hallyu." (Yonhap)