Korean becomes formal subject of French university entrance exam

PARIS (Yonhap) -- The French equivalent to the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) has added Korean as one of its formal foreign language subjects, the Korean Embassy to France said Sunday.

Korean became the 23rd foreign language of the Baccalaureat, an academic test that French students take at the end of high school.

Anyone who passes the national exam can advance to tertiary education. Asian languages that are already included on the test include Chinese and Japanese.

The French government indicated the move when French President Francois Hollande visited Korea in November 2015 as part of efforts to improve mutual understanding at a time when Korean culture gains growing recognition in the European country.

For its part, the Korean government's been working to increase Korean lessons at French schools.

"As Korean is now formally included in the Baccalaureat, there will be more Korean lessons in French schools, which hopefully leads to the growing popularity of the Korean major and boosts cultural exchanges between the two nations," said the embassy in a statement.