Instituto Superior de Arte, Cuba's top art college, from next month will offer trial courses in the Korean language in the wake of the island country becoming the 193rd country to form diplomatic relations with Korea. Shown are students on Feb. 12 taking a practice Test of Proficiency in Korean at the Cultural Center and Korean Language School in Havana. (Center's official Instagram page)

By Hong Angie

The top art university in Cuba will soon start offering Korean-language classes after the island nation recently became the 193rd state to form diplomatic ties with Korea.

Korean media including Yonhap News on Feb. 18 said Centro Cultural y Escuela de Idioma Coreano En Cuba (Cultural Center and Korean Language School in Cuba) announced the day before the launch of trial courses in Korean next month at Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in the Cuban capital of Havana.

Founded in 1976, ISA is Cuba's top institution of higher learning for music, visual arts and theater, three areas of strength for the Caribbean country. In its language curriculum, the school offers Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese.

ISA considered the high demand for Korean in Cuba and asked the Korean-language center in January to prepare related courses.

"It is highly significant to offer Korean-language courses to university students in Cuba, which values the public education system," said the language school's principal Chung Ho-hyeon. "This will greatly help the promotion of the Korean language in Cuba since the establishment of diplomatic ties."

In New York on Feb. 14, both countries formed official relations after their permanent missions to the United Nations exchanged diplomatic notes.

shong9412@korea.kr