May 20, 2026
SEOUL – The Ministry of Education said Tuesday it would dispatch 93 Korean-language teachers to 13 countries this year to meet growing demand for Korean-language education in regions with limited teaching resources.
The ministry said it has begun accepting applications from teachers who wish to be dispatched for the fall semester to nine countries: Cambodia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Four other countries had teachers chosen for dispatch in April: two for Brazil, two for India, one for the Philippines and 47 for Thailand.
The teachers will work at local elementary, middle and high schools for up to 10 months, with the possibility of extending their stay for an additional term. They will receive monthly living allowances of around $2,700 to $2,950, local insurance coverage, emergency evacuation and repatriation services, and round-trip airfare, according to the ministry.
The ministry first dispatched Korean-language teachers abroad in 2011, when it sent teachers to Thailand at the request of the Thai government following a bilateral summit in 2009.
As of last year, 1,024 Korean-language teachers had been dispatched to 21 countries under the program. This year, Thailand is to receive the largest number of Korean teachers, followed by Uzbekistan with 25.
The ministry said 20 of the 25 teachers being sent to Uzbekistan this year were invited by the Uzbek government, which will help cover their allowances as part of efforts to expand Korean-language education in regional cities.
Uzbekistan has seen rapid growth in Korean-language education, with the number of schools offering Korean classes and the number of enrolled students rising by more than 300 percent over the past five years, according to the ministry. But locally trained Korean-language teachers are still concentrated mostly in the capital, Tashkent, creating regional disparities in access to Korean classes.
“The role of capable Korean-language teachers is crucial to promoting Korean-language education overseas,” said Lee Nan-young, director general for international education planning at the Education Ministry. “We will continue to work closely with local governments to strengthen support for Korean-language education.”