Korean Culture and Information Service Director Park Jung-Youl (right) on Nov. 6 takes a photo with Koh Taejun, head of the Center for Critical Foreign Languages Education at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, after signing an agreement on joint production of content promoting the country at Foreign Press Center Korea in Seoul.

By Lee Kyoung Mi and Lee Jihae

Photos = Jeon Han
Seoul | Nov. 06, 2020

The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) and the Center for Critical Foreign Languages Education on Nov. 6 signed an agreement in Seoul on jointly promoting education in critical foreign languages and boosting the nation's image.

Part of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, the center is a specialized education institute opened in March 2018 to develop human resources fluent in foreign languages deemed critical for Korea.

Under the accord reached at Foreign Press Center Korea, KOCIS, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, will produce content with subtitles or speech in 11 selected languages: Malay/Indonesian, Farsi (Iran), Thai, Polish, Mongolian, Hindi, Turkish, Hungarian, Swahili, Uzbek and Portuguese. The service's Korean Cultural Centers abroad will also spread education in the 11 languages.

For its part, the center will aid translation and editing and use KOCIS-produced content as training materials to boost Korea's image.

Both KOCIS and the center will exchange information on regions using the 11 languages and jointly produce promotional content.

KOCIS Director Park Jung-Youl said, "The conclusion of this business agreement will lead to more content produced in critical foreign languages," adding, "This is expected to broaden the scope of content promoting the country's image."

Korean Culture and Information Service Director Park Jung-Youl (fourth from left) on Nov. 6 takes a photo at Foreign Press Center Korea in Seoul after signing an agreement on the joint production of content promoting Korea's image with Koh Taejun, head of the Center for Critical Foreign Languages Education at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (third from left).