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(From left) Kyu-nyeon Kim, Director of the Korean Education Center at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Indonesia; Mihye Choi, Secretary General of bbb Korea; Hongpil Ahn, Secretary General of KT&G Scholarship Foundation; Yusnitus Budi Hermanto, Chairman of the Widya Mandala Foundation; Sumi Wijaya, President of Widya Mandala University (Photo by bbb Korea)
On Friday, April 25, the 'KT&G Scholarship Foundation Korean Center' (WM-BBB) officially opened in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. This achievement is the result of a longstanding collaboration between bbb Korea, a leading Korean language and culture NGO (headed by Hee Soo Lee), and KT&G (led by Kyung Man Bang), a company recognized for its ESG management. Since 2013, bbb and KT&G have been running the Global Language and Culture Education - Indonesia Korean Language Institute project, which provides Korean language education and cultural experiences in Indonesia.
The 'Indonesia KT&G Scholarship Foundation Korean Center', operated by bbb Korea and sponsored by the KT&G Scholarship Foundation, was launched by expanding and reorganizing the 'KT&G Sangsang Univ Korean Language Institute' that the two organizations established in Surabaya in 2020. The Widya Mandala Foundation, bbb Korea's educational partner in Indonesia, is also collaborating on this initiative.
Attendees at the opening ceremony are sharing the Indonesian traditional dish tumpeng as a gesture of celebration. (Photo by BBB Korea)
The opening ceremony was attended by Kyu-nyeon Kim, Director of the Korean Education Center at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Indonesia; Hongpil Ahn, Secretary General of the KT&G Scholarship Foundation; Mihye Choi, Secretary General of bbb Korea; Yustinus Budi Hermanto, Chairman of the Widya Mandala Foundation; and about 50 other officials and local residents, all of whom celebrated the launch of the center.
As a new hub for cultural and language exchange between Korea and Indonesia, the center plans to offer a wide range of systematic Korean language and cultural programs to local students and citizens interested in learning Korean. In addition, the center will conduct expert research to further promote local exchanges of Korean language and culture.
Notably, the center's opening coincides with another milestone that is raising expectations for its role as a focal point of Korean language education in the region. In May, the Widya Mandala Language Institute will host the 100th Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) for the first time ever in East Java. Until now, Korean language learners in East Java had to fly to Bali or Yogyakarta to take the TOPIK exam. Reflecting the strong enthusiasm and interest in Korean language learning in the region, the news that TOPIK would be held in East Java led to the immediate filling of the initial target of 100 test-takers, with many more joining the waiting list.
Hongpil Ahn, Secretary General of the KT&G Scholarship Foundation, stated, "The KT&G Scholarship Foundation has been actively supporting scholarship and educational projects both domestically and internationally. With the opening of this center, we are pleased to be able to offer a wide range of educational opportunities to talented global students in Indonesia."
Mihye Choi, Secretary General of bbb Korea, commented, "The opening of this Korean language center is both a result of active and sustained collaboration between NGOs and corporations, and a representative success story of private diplomacy and language and culture exchange between the two countries. Moving forward, we plan to actively respond to the interest and enthusiasm of Indonesians who love K-content by providing a variety of educational content and exchange programs tailored to local needs through ongoing research."
Meanwhile, bbb Korea is a nonprofit organization registered with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and is a language and culture NGO dedicated to promoting harmonious communication in a global multicultural society. Since launching Korea's first talent donation volunteer activity?bbb interpretation volunteer service?in 2002, the organization has received over 1.2 million interpretation requests. Additionally, bbb Korea has established and operated language and culture institutes in three countries?Indonesia, Vietnam, and Myanmar?providing language and cultural education and experiences to over 20,000 students. Recently, the organization has also been pursuing projects related to migrant-background citizens, aiming to foster an inclusive society through cultural communication.
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