181 language learners travel to Korea for Sejong Institute contest

The King Sejong Institute Foundation brought 181 Korean-language learners from 71 countries to Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday for its Korean speaking and writing contests. The event featured 20 finalists competing under the theme “Korea in My Heart” and highlighted the language’s growing global appeal. Marjan Haghi of Iran and Nguyen Bao Chau of Vietnam won the speaking and writing grand prizes, respectively. The broader 2026 invitation program brought a record 357 participants to Korea.

The speaking contest received 284 applicants for each finalist spot, while the writing contest received 105 applicants for each finalist spot.

Nine speaking finalists delivered five-minute speeches and answered questions, while 11 writing finalists from eight countries wrote essays dressed in Joseon-era scholar robes.

Sara Larenas Guerrero of Ecuador won the speaking excellence award, and Mariam Khalid of Egypt received the writing excellence award.

The program includes 176 additional participants, including winners of the 2026 Korean Culture Contest, alongside the 181 King Sejong Institute learners.

Participants will attend Hangeul Hanmadang and tour Gyeongbok Palace in hanbok on Friday and Oct. 29.

Published Oct 8, 2026 12:00 pm KST

Updated Oct 8, 2026 3:19 pm KST

Finalists in the writing category of the King Sejong Institute Korean speaking and writing contest, dressed in the robes of Joseon-era scholars, compete at Hotel Prumir in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of King Sejong Institute Foundation

HWASEONG, Gyeonggi Province — Amira Kamal Mohamed says she used to be a shy person who rarely spoke. That began to change a decade ago, when she took up Korean while living in her home country of Egypt. She found the language gave her far more ways to put her feelings into words than her native Arabic.

"In Arabic, 'sad' is just 'sad' and 'happy' is just 'happy,' but Korean has so many different expressions," said Mohamed, who studies at the King Sejong Institutes in Cairo and hopes to become a Korean language interpreter. "It let me express my emotions much more richly."

Mohamed was among 181 outstanding learners from 71 countries invited to Korea by the King Sejong Institute Foundation. On Wednesday, they gathered at Hotel Prumir in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to cheer on the 20 finalists of the foundation's Korean speaking and writing contests.

Amira Kamal Mohamed, a learner at the King Sejong Institute in Cairo, Egypt, poses during an interview with The Korea Times at Hotel Purmir in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Pyo Kyung-min

The event came two days before the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Hangeul Day this Friday.

It offered a glimpse of how far interest in the Korean language has spread, as many participants traced their first engagement with the language to K-pop and K-dramas.

Mohamed was first drawn in by K-pop boy band EXO, but said a passion built on K-pop alone would not have lasted.

"If your interest in the language comes only from K-pop, I think you end up giving up once that interest fades," she said. "In my case, the love moved on to the language itself."

Jeanne Perreault, who works at the Superior Court of Quebec, Canada, followed a similar path. She began listening to K-pop around 2019 and taught herself Korean. In 2024, she enrolled at King Sejong Institute Montreal to work on her speaking skills, which she still finds to be most difficult because she has few chances to practice outside class.

Her effort has paid off. Her teacher gave her a bilingual Korean-English poetry collection, which she now studies by reading it in both languages.

"Being able to read it makes me really feel that my Korean has improved," she said.

King Sejong Institute learners from around the world take a group selfie during the final round of the institute's Korean speaking and writing contest at Hotel Prumir in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of King Sejong Institute Foundation

Competition for this year's contest was stiff. The speaking category drew 284 applicants for each finalist spot and the writing category drew 105.

Both finals on Wednesday were held on the theme "Korea in My Heart." Eleven writing finalists from eight countries, including Tajikistan, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan and Egypt, wrote their essays while dressed in the robes of Joseon-era scholars. Vietnam sent the largest contingent, with four finalists.

In the afternoon, nine speaking finalists from countries including India, Hungary, Ecuador, Cuba, Uzbekistan and Iran each gave a five-minute speech and answered a question from one of the judges. An audience award was also up for grabs.

The speakers took the theme in many directions. One described Korea as an unfinished letter, written in songs and drama scenes, that she had kept tucked away and returned to as her dream grew. Another spoke of how learning Korean led her down an unexpected path to the friends she now studies with.

Marjan Haghi of Iran won the grand prize in the speaking category, and Sara Larenas Guerrero of Ecuador took the excellence award. In the writing category, Nguyen Bao Chau of Vietnam won the grand prize, and Mariam Khalid of Egypt received the excellence award.

King Sejong Institute learners try taekwondo on the sidelines of the final round of the King Sejong Institute Korean speaking and writing contest in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of King Sejong Institute Foundation

The contest is part of the foundation's 2026 invitation program for outstanding learners, which brought a record 357 participants to Korea this year. Along with the 181 King Sejong Institute learners, the program includes 176 others, among them winners of the 2026 Korean Culture Contest. Participants will experience Korean language and culture in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province in two rounds.

On Thursday, speaking finalists will share their experiences with Hangeul and the Korean language at Hangeul Hanmadang, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. On Friday and Oct. 29, participants will tour Gyeongbok Palace in hanbok, Korea's traditional clothing. The roughly 360 outfits were selected by Lee Jin-hee, a Korea National University of Arts professor who has worked as a costume director for Korean films and dramas.

Winners of the King Sejong Institute Korean speaking and writing contest pose with officials from the King Sejong Institute Foundation and the university professors who judged the contest after the awards ceremony at Hotel Prumir in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of King Sejong Institute Foundation

Perreault, who is visiting Korea for the first time, said she is most looking forward to the palace tour. For Mohamed, simply being here still feels unreal.

"I studied Korean for 10 years, but I never once imagined I could come to Korea," Mohamed said. "It feels like I'm inside a K-drama."

What she wants most is an evening by the Han River, eating instant noodles and delivery food like a local.

世宗学堂基金会于周三在京畿道华城市举办韩语口语和写作比赛，吸引了来自71个国家的181名韩语学习者参加。本次比赛以“我心中的韩国”为主题，共有20名决赛选手角逐，凸显了韩语日益增长的全球影响力。伊朗选手玛尔詹·哈吉和越南选手阮宝珠分别荣获口语和写作比赛的最高奖项。此外，2026年韩国邀请计划共吸引了创纪录的357名参与者。

演讲比赛每个决赛名额有 284 名申请者，而写作比赛每个决赛名额有 105 名申请者。

九名演讲决赛选手发表了五分钟的演讲并回答了问题，而来自八个国家的 11 名写作决赛选手则身着朝鲜时代士服撰写文章。

来自厄瓜多尔的萨拉·拉雷纳斯·格雷罗获得了演讲卓越奖，来自埃及的玛丽亚姆·哈立德获得了写作卓越奖。

该项目包括 176 名其他参与者，其中包括 2026 年韩国文化大赛的获奖者，以及 181 名世宗学院学员。

参与者将于10月29日（星期五）身着韩服参观景福宫，并参加韩文韩马堂的活动。

发布于2026年10月8日韩国时间下午12:00

更新于2026年10月8日下午3:19（韩国标准时间）

周三，在京畿道华城市普鲁米尔酒店，身着朝鲜时代文人服饰的世宗学会韩语口语写作比赛决赛选手们展开角逐。图片由世宗学会基金会提供。

京畿道华城市——阿米拉·卡迈勒·穆罕默德说，她以前是个害羞内向、很少说话的人。十年前，她在埃及生活期间开始学习韩语，情况开始发生变化。她发现，相比母语阿拉伯语，韩语能让她更好地表达自己的感受。

“在阿拉伯语里，‘悲伤’就是‘悲伤’，‘快乐’就是‘快乐’，但韩语有很多不同的表达方式，”在开罗世宗王学院学习并希望成为一名韩语翻译的穆罕默德说，“这让我能够更丰富地表达我的情感。”

穆罕默德是受世宗学堂基金会邀请来到韩国的来自71个国家的181名优秀学习者之一。周三，他们齐聚京畿道华城市普鲁米尔酒店，为该基金会举办的韩语口语和写作比赛的20名决赛选手加油助威。

周三，在韩国京畿道华城市普尔米尔酒店，埃及开罗世宗王学院学员阿米拉·卡迈勒·穆罕默德接受《韩国时报》采访时摆姿势拍照。照片由《韩国时报》摄影师表京民拍摄。

此次活动是在本周五韩文日设立100周年纪念日的前两天举行的。

这次活动展现了人们对韩语的兴趣已经传播到何种程度，许多参与者表示，他们第一次接触韩语是通过 K-pop 和韩剧。

穆罕默德最初是被韩国流行男团 EXO 吸引的，但他表示，仅仅对韩国流行音乐的热情不会持久。

“如果你对韩语的兴趣仅仅来自于K-pop，那么一旦这种兴趣消退，你最终可能会放弃，”她说。“就我而言，我对这门语言本身的热爱已经转移到了它上面。”

在加拿大魁北克省高等法院工作的珍妮·佩罗（Jeanne Perreault）的经历与此类似。她大约在2019年开始听韩国流行音乐，并自学韩语。2024年，她进入蒙特利尔世宗学院学习，以提高自己的口语能力。她仍然觉得口语是最难的部分，因为课外练习的机会很少。

她的努力没有白费。她的老师送给她一本韩英双语诗集，她现在正用两种语言阅读这本诗集进行学习。

“能够读懂这篇文章，让我真切地感受到我的韩语水平提高了，”她说。

周三，在京畿道华城市普鲁米尔酒店举行的世宗学堂韩语口语和写作比赛决赛中，来自世界各地的世宗学堂学员们合影留念。照片由世宗学堂基金会提供。

今年的比赛竞争非常激烈。演讲类决赛每个名额吸引了284名申请者，写作类决赛则吸引了105名申请者。

周三举行的两场决赛均以“我心中的韩国”为主题。来自包括塔吉克斯坦、哥伦比亚、吉尔吉斯斯坦和埃及在内的八个国家的十一名作文决赛选手身着朝鲜时代文人服饰进行作文。越南派出了参赛人数最多的代表团，共有四名选手进入决赛。

下午，来自印度、匈牙利、厄瓜多尔、古巴、乌兹别克斯坦和伊朗等国的九位演讲决赛选手每人进行了五分钟的演讲，并回答了评委的提问。此外，还颁发了观众奖。

演讲者们围绕这个主题展开了多方面的讨论。一位演讲者将韩国比作一封未完成的信，用歌曲和戏剧场景写成，她一直珍藏着这封信，随着梦想的成长，她时常重拾这封信。另一位演讲者则讲述了学习韩语如何让她走上了一条意想不到的道路，结识了现在一起学习的朋友。

伊朗选手玛尔詹·哈吉荣获演讲类大奖，厄瓜多尔选手萨拉·拉雷纳斯·格雷罗获得优秀奖。越南选手阮宝珠荣获写作类大奖，埃及选手玛丽亚姆·哈立德获得优秀奖。

周三，在京畿道华城市举行的世宗学堂韩语口语和写作比赛决赛间隙，世宗学堂的学员们正在练习跆拳道。图片由世宗学堂基金会提供。

这项竞赛是该基金会2026年优秀学习者邀请计划的一部分，今年该计划共邀请了创纪录的357名学员赴韩。除了世宗学堂的181名学员外，该计划还包括其他176名学员，其中包括2026年韩国文化竞赛的获奖者。学员们将在首尔和京畿道分两轮体验韩国语言和文化。

周四，口语决赛选手将在由韩国文化体育观光部主办的韩文韩马堂分享他们学习韩文和韩语的经验。周五和10月29日，选手们将身着韩国传统服饰韩服参观景福宫。这约360套服装由韩国国立艺术大学教授李真熙（音译）精心挑选，她曾担任韩国电影和电视剧的服装指导。

周三，在京畿道华城市普鲁米尔酒店举行的世宗王学院韩语口语和写作比赛颁奖典礼结束后，获奖者与世宗王学院基金会官员以及担任评委的大学教授合影留念。（图片由世宗王学院基金会提供）

首次到访韩国的佩罗表示，她最期待的是参观皇宫。而对穆罕默德来说，身处此地仍然感觉像在做梦。

“我学了十年韩语，但从未想过自己能来到韩国，”穆罕默德说。“感觉就像置身于韩剧之中。”

她最想要的是在汉江边度过一个夜晚，像当地人一样吃方便面和外卖。