By Min Yea-Ji and Sohn JiAe

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the King Sejong Institute Foundation announced on May 23 that a total of 16 new Sejoing Institutes have been established in 13 countries around the world.

Three of those new centers were built at the University of Turku in Finland, at Baku State University in Azerbaijan and at the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoralin (ESPOL) in Guayaquil, Ecuador, all places where, until now, there has been no King Sejong Institute.

The 16 new locations were chosen among 56 applicants in 31 countries that wanted to host a new Korean language center. The locations had to go through a paper application process, an on-site inspection and a final screening.

An official from the culture ministry said that, “With the new additions, we have a total of 174 institutes working in 57 countries around the world, running Korean language classes and hands-on Korean cultural programs. We’ll do our best to make it so that the institutes are bases for spreading the Korean language and the heritage of our nation all around the world.”

jesimin@korea.kr