"South Korean High School Students Choose Japanese Due to Anti-China Sentiment"

Japanese Nishinippon Newspaper Report

Japanese media recently reported that Korean students' interest in the Japanese language is increasing.

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On the 7th (local time), Japan's Nishinippon Shimbun reported that as China's popularity declines in Korea, preference for the Japanese language has increased. "In Korean high schools, students start learning a second foreign language from the second year, and at a high school in Busan, about 80% of first-year students chose Japanese last year," adding, "Out of seven classes in total, five classes are conducted in Japanese, which shows the popularity of the Japanese language."

The newspaper also mentioned that anti-China sentiment could be a cause. "Among Korean teachers, there is an analysis that 'while the Japanese language itself is popular, the preference for Japanese is also an important reason due to various issues such as fine dust and COVID-19, which make China less favored,'" it explained. It further analyzed that "these political issues are particularly sensitive to the younger generation in Korea," and also mentioned the fact that "during the 2019 'No Japan' movement, the proportion of students choosing Japanese in high schools significantly decreased."

The media stated, "The number of Koreans taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is also increasing every year," and projected that this year the number will exceed 130,000.

The growing interest in Japanese is not limited to students. According to a big data analysis conducted by the polling agency Data & Research on 230,000 channel sites, Japanese ranked first among 14 second foreign languages in terms of information volume as of 2023. Chinese, French, and Spanish followed.

Japanese recorded a total of 1,457,764 postings last year, ranking first among foreign languages surveyed in terms of the number of postings. In a separate survey, Japanese postings increased by 137,596, or 10.42%, compared to 2022. This is presumed to be due to an increase in travel frequency to Japan following the depreciation of the yen and strengthened government diplomacy toward Japan, leading to a rise in related interest.