From right, award winners Ozioma Esther Nwabuko of Canada, Buyan-Ulzii Lkhagvasuren of Mongolia and Aliboeva Sevara Akbar Kizi of Uzbekistan attend the awards ceremony for the Korean Language Speaking Contest organized by The Korea Times at the Korea Cyber University in Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
Watching the winners of the third Korean Language Speaking Contest on stage at the Korea Cyber University on Wednesday brought a wave of quiet emotion to the hall.
The winners delivered their speeches with highly impressive and fluent Korean. However, the real emotion came from their personal stories of growth, which connected different parts of the world to Seoul, thanks to their command of the Korean language.
Organized by The Korea Times, this year’s contest drew a record-breaking 3,908 applicants from 110 countries, a massive 120 percent jump from the previous year.
The diversity of the participants clearly reflected the growing global popularity of the Korean language. While Asia still represented the largest group of applicants at 72.3 percent, a significant number came from Europe, with 12.8 percent, followed closely by a growing presence of applicants from Africa, with 6.8 percent. This wide geographic spread showed the language is becoming a practical tool for youth worldwide.
