Korean textbooks published in Thailand on Monday for secondary school students. Chapter nine is titled "Korean is fun." / Courtesy of the Ministry of Education



By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo

Thailand has published Korean textbooks for secondary school students who learn Korean as a second language.

The publication on Monday came nine years after the country added Korean to a list of second languages taught in middle and high schools. The textbook, co-authored by the education ministries of South Korea and Thailand, will be used from the spring semester.

The new textbook is "Korean 1", for beginners. The Thai education ministry will publish five more editions by March for intermediate and advanced learners.

Without accredited Korean language textbooks published in Thailand, students and teachers had used textbooks published by Korean universities or assembled by Thai teachers.





Students hold the new Korean textbook, "Korean 1," in a classroom on Sunday. / Courtesy of the Ministry of Education



"As the Korean Wave continues to gain popularity, so does the number of Thai students studying Korean," a Thai education ministry official was quoted as saying in a report.

Korean is the fourth most popular of the 17 languages the ministry has designated as a second language, after Chinese, Japanese and French. Nearly 30,000 Thai students study Korean, up from 3,000 in 2010, according to the ministry.

Earlier, the Thai education ministry designated Korean as an official foreign language subject for the college entrance exam. The first exam will take place February 2018.



