Saudi Arabia to open first Korean language institute in Riyadh
Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) plans to open the King Sejong Institute in the capital, Riyadh, on Sunday, September 11, and it is the first institute to teach the Korean language in the country, local media reported.
Prince Sultan University (PSU) and the King Sejong Institute Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the institute within the university.
On Wednesday, August 24, Prince Sultan University took to Twitter and wrote, “H.E. President of #PSU signed an MoU with King Sejong Institute Foundation in Korea and the Korean Embassy in Riyadh, to incubate and operate the King Sejong Institute on-campus, with an aim of spreading the Korean language and culture within the Kingdom.”
The Korean institute was established at Prince Sultan University, and it will undertake the mission of teaching the Korean language for the first time in Saudi Arabia since the establishment of relations between the country 60 years ago.
According to the Arabic daily Sabq, the opening of the institute came with Saudi-Korean cooperation in response to the growing demand for learning the Korean language.
The King Sejong Institute in Riyadh will hold the first semester for a period of three and a half months, from September 11 to December 27. Classes will be divided based on student levels from beginner to intermediate.
There is no official institution for Korean education in the Kingdom, despite the great development witnessed by the relations between Riyadh and Seoul during the past years in a number of fields.
The King Sejong Institute is an official Korean language institute established around the world with the support of the Korean government and sponsored by the King Sejong Institute Foundation.
The institute derives its name from King Sejong the Great (1397-1450), the most respected leader in Korean history, who invented the Korean alphabet 579 years ago, and 244 institutes have been established in 84 countries around the world.
