Yongsan District Office Employee Mr. A Studies Vietnamese via Video Call with Local Vietnamese...

Yongsan-gu Launches Pilot Operation of Korea-Vietnam Online Language School... Yongsan-gu Office Officials Matched 1:1 with Cuin Sejong Institute Students to Support Foreign Language Learning

A Yongsan District Office official is video calling with a Sejong Institute student through Jallo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Yongsan-gu (Mayor Seong Chang-hyun) will pilot the ‘Korea-Vietnam Online Language School’ for one month starting January 1 next year.

This is to promote friendly exchanges with Quy Nhon City, Vietnam, a sister city overseas.

The participants are 10 Yongsan-gu office officials and 10 Quy Nhon Sejong Institute students, respectively. The district will match them 1:1 so they can teach and learn each other's languages. This will be done through Zalo, the Vietnamese national messenger. Both chat and video calls are possible.

Those who find 1:1 learning burdensome or lack confidence can participate only in group (public) chat rooms. The district plans to continuously provide related educational materials and cultural content of both countries through the group chat rooms.

This project will expand from February next year. The target will be broadened to include Yongsan residents, local company employees, and Sookmyung Women’s University students, and applications will be accepted. After a Vietnamese language level test, participants will be matched 1:1 with Sejong Institute students. There is no separate participation fee.

The Sejong Institute is an educational institution that teaches Korean language and culture to those who want to learn Korean as a foreign or second language. The district established the Quy Nhon Sejong Institute in 2016 together with the Sejong Institute Foundation.

The Quy Nhon Sejong Institute is located on the 3rd floor of the Yongsan International Exchange Office, 109 Tran Cao Van, Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam. About 300 students study Korean language and culture here each semester.

The students are diverse, including Quy Nhon middle and high school students, university students, Quy Nhon City Hall officials, and general citizens. The district received a commendation from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2019 for operating the Quy Nhon Sejong Institute.

Seong Chang-hyun, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “About 3,000 students have passed through the Quy Nhon Sejong Institute over the past five years,” and added, “Next year, we will open the Korea-Vietnam Online Language School to support not only the district office but also general citizens to interact with Vietnam.”

Quy Nhon City is the first administrative city of Binh Dinh Province with a population of about 430,000. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and Vietnam in 1992, Yongsan-gu has been striving to restore relations with Vietnam as a local government.

In 1996, a Yongsan-gu delegation visited Quy Nhon City, and the two cities signed a sister city agreement the following year. Since then, projects such as supporting Vietnamese outstanding students’ study abroad, cataract treatment support, and building houses of love have continued for 24 years.

Next year, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of friendly exchanges, a Hanok architectural complex (pavilion, Korean promotional center, Korean garden) will be built in Quy Nhon. To this end, the district signed a ‘Joint Cooperation Agreement for the Globalization of Hanok Architecture’ with Jeonbuk National University last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.