When the world comes to Korea to learn

This summer, an 18-year-old Vietnamese student made a choice that quietly reverberated across Asia’s educational landscape. After finishing joint first place in Vietnam's highly competitive national science examination and earning a perfect SAT score, Hoang Huong Giang chose to pursue computer science at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology rather than follow the path to an elite university in the United States.

She cited several factors, including Korea’s technological strengths and its close links between universities and industry. Whatever the reasons behind her decision, it highlights Korea’s growing appeal as a destination for international talent. More than 300,000 international students are now enrolled at higher education institutions in Korea, up nearly 70 percent in just three years.

Over the past two decades, the nation has built up its remarkable global influence through culture, technology and commercial brands. K-pop, film, television dramas, smartphones, semiconductors and cars have helped make it one of the world's most recognized and admired countries.

But another source of influence is now emerging: the ability to attract talent, share expertise and actively build human capital. Increasingly, people are coming to Korea not only because of what it produces but because of the specialized expertise it can share.

One area where this shift is becoming increasingly visible is global health. Scientists, engineers, regulators and biomanufacturing professionals are heading to Korea to acquire capabilities that their home countries urgently need.

Through the World Health Organization’s Global Training Hub for Biomanufacturing (GTH-B), hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and implemented by the International Vaccine Institute since 2022, more than 2,000 professionals from more than 70 countries have received in-person training in vaccines and biological products in Korea.

Including online courses, more than 4,200 participants from over 100 countries have taken part in the training program. They return home with skills that can strengthen vaccine production, regulation, and public health preparedness in their own countries.

The urgency of this work became unmistakable during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientific breakthroughs alone were not enough. Many countries lacked the capacity to develop, produce, approve and distribute vaccines, contributing to global vaccine inequity.

Closing this gap requires investment in institutions and, above all, people. Facilities can be built and equipment installed, but without skilled professionals, they cannot deliver vaccines or health security.

Korea’s role in this effort is rooted in its own development experience. The nation understands the value of investing in people because it once benefited from international assistance and knowledge-sharing itself. Having transformed itself into a global economic and technological leader, Korea has learned that long-term progress depends on fusing infrastructure with human intellect. This experience explains Korea has shared training opportunities beyond its borders since the 1960s, before it became an industrial and technological powerhouse.

Korea now brings together several assets for global health that are rarely found in one place: biomedical research, sophisticated manufacturing, regulatory experience, public-sector commitment and strong education and training infrastructure. The Global Training Hub creates a mechanism through which these strengths can serve a wider international purpose.

The hub is not primarily an aid program or a showcase for domestic industry. It is a platform for sharing knowledge and building capability. Its long-term value will be measured by what participants and their institutions do after training: improve quality systems, strengthen regulation, expand production capacity, train colleagues and prepare more effectively for health emergencies.

Cooperation is not unidirectional. International participants gain access to South Korea’s expertise, while Korean institutions learn from different disease priorities, production environments and regulatory challenges. The resulting relationships can support future scientific collaboration, institutional partnerships and collective responses to health emergencies.

Activities rooted in development and education like GTH-B also represent an increasingly important form of soft power. Korea’s influence today extends well beyond entertainment and consumer products. But influence is not measured only by what people watch, listen to or buy. It is also shaped by where they choose to study, whom they trust for expertise and which institutions help them solve real-world problems.

Influence does not arise simply from promoting achievements. It grows when Korean universities, research institutes, companies and public institutions are viewed as useful, credible and trusted partners. When professionals build lasting ties with the country and apply what they have learned at home, technical cooperation becomes the foundation for long-term relationships.

Expertise and capacity-building complement Korea's cultural appeal and technological leadership, expanding its soft power in ways that may be less visible but equally enduring. Knowledge-sharing can advance global health while strengthening the international networks needed to address common challenges.

From international students to public-health professionals, more people are coming to Korea to learn, collaborate and build expertise. In an age when influence increasingly depends on talent, trust and collaboration, helping others build capacity may prove to be one of Korea's most enduring contributions to the world.

After all, one of Korea's greatest contributions to global health may lie not only in the products it manufactures, but also in cultivating the expertise that makes them possible, accessible and equitably distributed.

Jerome H. Kim, MD is the director general of the International Vaccine Institute, an international organization headquartered in Seoul.