The opening ceremony for the King Sejong Institute branch at the Technological University of Queretaro on Aug. 9 is held at the university in Queretaro.
By Kim Hyelin
Photos = Technological University of Queretaro’s official Facebook page
Mexico, a Latin American country with a huge Hallyu following, has opened its second branch of King Sejong Institute.
The Korean Cultural Center (KCC) in Mexico City on Aug. 9 opened the branch of the Korean-language institute at the foreign languages and community center of the Technological University of Queretaro in the central Mexican city of Queretaro.
The institute this year has opened 23 new branches in 19 countries, including that in Queretaro, boosting its global total to 244 in 84 countries.
Mexico is the only Spanish-speaking Latin American country to have two King Sejong branches. Other nations in the region like Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia and Paraguay each have one.
The Queretaro branch has begun recruiting students and starts Korean-language courses next month.
Park Young Doo, director of the KCC in Mexico City, told Yonhap News in an interview, “Requests for branches of King Sejong Institute keep coming from other regions of Mexico aside from Queretaro,” adding, “I hope that many Mexican youths have the opportunity to learn Korean.”
Queretaro is about 200 km northwest of the Mexican capital and hosts branches of major Korean corporations including Samsung Electronics and POSCO. An estimated 2,000 ethnic Koreans live in the city.
Mexico’s second branch of King Sejong Institute is housed at the building of the foreign languages and community center of the Technological University of Queretaro.
kimhyelin211@korea.kr
