The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is to set up 100 schools to teach Hangeul and promote Korean culture, or Sejong Haktang, around the world. Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Myung-gon told reporters on Thursday the ministry will establish the schools at overseas cultural centers it currently operates in London, Paris and elsewhere and at overseas universities between this year and 2011.

The National Academy of the Korean Language, which is to oversee the project, will set up the first schools at Ulaanbaatar University in Mongolia and Central University for Nationalities in Beijing in March. A handful of Central Asian schools including in Kazakhstan are planned for later in the year. So far, efforts to teach Korean overseas primarily targeted ethnic Koreans and Korean studies majors, but the Sejong Haktang are to offer classes for ordinary people.