IRVINE — The Korean American Center in Irvine will begin teaching a new series of Korean language classes in September after the King Sejong Institute, a cultural institution owned by the South Korean government, approved the nonprofit as one of 16 new sites worldwide this year — and the only new site in North America — to offer its program.

The Korean American Center will be teaching beginner- to intermediate-level Korean-language classes geared toward adults, collaborating with the Busan Foreign Studies University to develop the curriculum and provide instructors.

In a statement issued July 2 by the Korean American Center, chief instructor Migyung Lee pointed out that Orange County is home to the nation’s second-largest Korean population — an estimated 94,914 people according to the 2016 U.S. Census, trailing only Los Angeles County.

However, Tammy Kim, the Korean American Center’s executive director, said the Irvine organization was not chosen because of the high concentration of Korean Americans living in the area. Instead, she said, she thinks the center was chosen because of the quality of the Korean language classes offered there since January 2016.

While there are other centers in the country supported by the King Sejong Institute — such as the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles — it is uncommon for the South Korean government to invest in North America. Kim said this may be because investments of the South Korean won do not go as far in the U.S. as they do in developing nations.

As of July 2014, only five of 130 branches of the King Sejong Institute were in the U.S.

“Investing in the U.S. is not as much a priority,” she said. “The fact we were able to prove we had a successful program and that there was interest and demand, it minimized the risk.”

In its statement earlier this month, the Orange County Korean American Center said three-quarters of adults interested in learning the language are not of Korean descent.

Kim said the interest in learning Korean has grown exponentially since the center’s first class in January 2016 because of an increased interest in Korean culture and the integration of Korean-American families with other cultures.

This was the case with Irvine resident Robert Wilson, who began taking Korean-language classes at the center after being exposed to the culture by his Korean and Korean-American co-workers.

“I moved to Irvine about seven years ago for a job in the gaming industry and I work with language,” Wilson said. “I’m a bit of a language nerd to begin with. Working here, I have Korean and Korean-American colleagues. I’ve been much more exposed, whether it’s the food or K-dramas. So, about three years ago when I was looking into learning another language, I picked Korean.”

Tali Gordin-Kaviani, who lives in Irvine, said she became interested in the Korean language because of her personal interest in Korean poetry, but that she began taking the classes when she became more invested in Korean dramas.

“Their modern ones are very, very relevant to current issues,” Gordin-Kaviani said. “I realized I was picking up the language on my own. There was something very interesting about the structure, the syntax and I finally decided to take classes at the center.”

The new Korean-language classes will be funded by the King Sejong Institute Foundation, which was founded in 2012 by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The institute provides support to Korean-language learners and teachers and creates a standardized curriculum. Being part of an official Sejong branch means Jini Shim and other teachers will have opportunities to take training programs that will help them better themselves as instructors, Shim said.

“It’s something that if you are a Korean teacher, you know about it. Because it’s run by the government and known to be a good program and a growing one internationally,” she said. “It also means it does good things to support the teachers.”

The accreditation also lends legitimacy to the organization, Kim said.

“What it’s telling learners is that they are learning at a place that is fully accredited by the South Korean government. They’re learning at a place that is legitimate. They’re learning in a way with content that has been vetted out and with teachers that have been vetted out,” Kim said. “They could literally go to any other Sejong Institute in the world and have consistency from a learning perspective, whether they go to Vietnam, Philippines or Kazakhstan.”

Having the support of the institute, she added, also gives the center a greater ability to control the cost of classes.

Classes for the last spring semester were about $185 in addition to a $10 materials fee for a 90-minute weekly session for 10 weeks. This does not include the suggested texts which cost $25 for all levels. The program approved by the King Sejong Institute is estimated by staff to cost about $189 for a 3- to 4-hour weekly session for 11 to 12 weeks. Staff said semesters might be extended by a few weeks to meet King Sejong standards.