Language goes hand in hand with the development of Korean culture

In addition to regularly updating policies and focusing resources on promoting the Korean language, the Korean Government also focuses on developing culture through the Korean language in a subtle and unique way.

With the theme “Sejong, Embracing the Korean Language”, the 2025 Sejong Hangeul Festival takes place at Sejong Lake Park. (Photo: ANH TUAN)

Festival connects people to people

Sejong City was officially opened in July 2012 to alleviate the overcrowding in Seoul and promote balanced development across the country. The Korean government wants to build this place into a “smart administrative unit”, a “happy city”, a symbol of a dynamic and modern Korea.

As of October 2025, this city of about 400,000 people has a blend of many different cultures, including Korean, Asian and Western cultures, with the presence of many museums and historical sites.

With the theme “Sejong, embracing the Korean language”, the 2025 festival taking place in the central area of ​​Sejong Lake Park is an opportunity for viewers to enjoy many unique cultural and artistic performances that harmoniously combine tradition and modernity.

These include the performance of the "Black Eagles" aerobatic team of the Republic of Korea Air Force; Samulnori - a traditional music form performed with four percussion instruments: Kwaenggwari (small gong), Jing (gong), Janggu (traditional Korean drum shaped like an hourglass) and Buk (large drum) with folk sounds, recreating the rhythm and philosophy of nature, crops, as well as the human spirit.

The Sejong Hangeul Festival takes place in late October or early November every year, usually lasting about 3 days.

Especially the drone performance with the desire to connect the present and the future. With modern technology, Korean characters and letters seem to be flying out from the pages of a book, shimmering in the night sky of Sejong city.

Mr. Choi Min-ho, Mayor of Sejong Special Autonomous City, talks with Nhan Dan Newspaper reporter (Photo: ANH TUAN)

In the clear blue sky and cool climate, tourists as well as locals can directly participate in painting, sculpture painting, flashmob dancing, etc., helping to connect people with people, family with family.

An interesting thing is that besides the vibrant promotional activities in open spaces and outdoor spaces as above, the leaders of the Sejong City government themselves also have a very clever way of communicating while receiving guests at the office with traditional costumes printed with many motifs and patterns related to the Korean language. This detail has aroused the curiosity and exploration of the media.

Vietnamese people's need to learn Korean is the greatest in ASEAN

King Sejong Institute was established in 2007, sponsored by the Korean Government to promote Korean language and culture education beyond national borders.

As of October 2025, the Academy is directly managing and operating 252 facilities in 87 countries/territories, of which Vietnam has 23 facilities.

Tourists visit the King Sejong Tomb (Yeongneung) located in the west of Yeoju City, Gyeonggi Province - the burial place of King Sejong and Queen Soheon, recognized as a UNESCO Heritage Site. (Photo: ANH TUAN)

With the mission of building a cooperative network of Korean language educators abroad and finding ways to develop Korean language exchanges, the King Sejong Institute Foundation (KSIF) was established in 2012.

According to Mr. Choi Hyun-seung - Secretary General of KSIF, in addition to providing Korean language courses from basic to advanced, combined with unique Korean cultural experience programs, King Sejong Institute (a public company under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea) also organizes prestigious Sejong Korean Proficiency Assessment (SKA) exams.

Recognizing the importance of the Korean language, on December 9, 2021, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Decision No. 712/QD-BGDDT on the general education program for Korean and German - foreign language 1 pilot (10-year system), in addition to English, Russian, French, Chinese, Japanese, and German.

The King Sejong Institute was established in 2012 with the mission of building a cooperative network of Korean language educators abroad, finding ways to develop Korean language exchanges, and conducting orientation training in the regions.

According to data from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, by 2025, 48 universities in Vietnam had established Korean language and Korean studies departments with more than 27,000 students studying. Currently, Vietnam is the country with the largest and most comprehensive scale of training and research on Korean language and culture in Southeast Asia as well as Asia.

Mr. Choi Hyun-seung, Secretary General of KSIF (Photo: ANH TUAN)

That is the basis for the KSIF Secretary General to affirm that the demand for learning Korean among Vietnamese people is the largest in the ASEAN region. The clearest evidence is that King Sejong Institute is present in several major cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Can Tho.

Special honor for love of Korean

Based on the historical and cultural similarities between Vietnam and Korea, along with the strong development of economic relations, sports exchanges, tourism, education, etc., in recent times we have witnessed many Vietnamese people learning Korean and going to Korea to study, work, live and settle down.

According to Duong Bao Khanh, a graduate with a Master's degree in percussion instruments from the Faculty of Music at the Korea National University of Arts, many young Vietnamese people have in common that they are strongly influenced by K-pop and K-movies, from which they love and learn, then study and receive scholarships or take exams to enter training systems in Korea.

Talking about the advantages and difficulties of Vietnamese people in the process of learning Korean, according to Khanh, some languages ​​such as Mongolian and Japanese have grammatical correlations, so they learn Korean very easily, while Korean vocabulary and pronunciation can be considered the strength of Vietnamese people learning Korean (some pronunciations and meanings are similar).

Young Vietnamese people who want to learn Korean effectively need to learn both traditional and modern Korean culture. In addition, they need to make the most of opportunities to communicate in Korean with native speakers in class as well as in daily life.

Because of his passion for the Korean language and his desire to renew himself and discover interesting things about life around him, Khanh decided to develop his academic path at the PhD level in Korean translation and interpretation (Korea National University of Foreign Studies), has completed the transfer subjects and will enroll in March 2026.

Duong Bao Khanh (sitting in the middle, born in 1990, from Ho Chi Minh City) and foreign students from the Korea National University of Arts shared at the program. (Photo: ANH TUAN)

Thanks to his artistic talent, Duong Bao Khanh was invited to perform (mono bau) with Korean artists at the State Banquet hosted by President Lee Jae Myung and his wife to welcome General Secretary To Lam, his wife Ngo Phuong Ly and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation on a State visit to Korea from August 10-13 at the invitation of President Lee Jae Myung.

This is truly a great honor, recognizing the 8 years of living and studying seriously in Korea of ​​the young man born in 1990, from Ho Chi Minh City.

Ta Anh Tuan

Nhan Dan Newspaper reporter records from Korea

Source: https://nhandan.vn/ngon-ngu-song-hanh-cung-su-phat-trien-cua-van-hoa-han-quoc-post916697.html