Korean language school in Indonesian village closed

The first Korean language school for an Indonesian tribe has closed due to financial and cultural problems, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The news comes as Tuesday marks the 566th anniversary of the promulgation of Hangeul, causing concerns that it may put a halt to the nation’s drive to promote its writing system overseas.

“Sejong Hakdang,” or King Sejong Institute, in Bau-Bau, Indonesia, was jointly established and run by Kyungpook National University and Indonesia’s Muhammadiyah Buton University. It closed on Aug. 3, just seven months after opening on Jan. 30, according to the Hunminjeongeum Society, an academic organization dedicated to Hangeul.

They said the institute experienced financial difficulties and had several misunderstandings with the city of Bau-Bau due to cultural differences.

“I think the Hunminjeongeum Society had some friction with the local government when they first introduced Hangeul to their people (in 2009), but I don’t think it was a major problem,” said a ministry official.

Kyungpook National University was responsible for footing 36 million won ($32,000) of the 7 million won annual budget to run the school, according to the official. The rest was covered by the Korean government.

The Cia-Cia, a tribe of some 80,000 indigenous people living in Bau-Bau, a city on Buton Island, adopted Hangeul as its official writing system for their spoken language and ran Korean language courses in schools for the past few years.

As the institute shut down, Jeong Deok-yeong, the only Korean language instructor, had to return to Korea as well, leaving behind students he has taught since 2010.

“I feel so sorry for my students. I told them I was going back to Korea because it’s summer vacation. But now I can’t return,” Jeong told a local daily on Monday.

The position of Hanguel as an official writing system is also at risk as the mayor of Bau-Bau, who led the decision to use Hangeul as the tribe’s writing system, is expected to end his term in December.

The Culture Ministry said it will resume operations of the language school once it decides which university will be in charge of managing it.

“We are in the process of selecting a university which will operate the language school. We will re-open it once that is decided,” said the official.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)