EXCLUSIVE: Korea Preparing India-Focused Korean Textbooks with Hallyu, BTS Content

New Delhi – Riding on the explosive global popularity of Hallyu (the Korean Wave), South Korea is now preparing to take Korean language education in India to the next level by developing India-specific Korean textbooks—potentially featuring Hallyu and BTS-related learning content—tailored to Indian students and local classroom needs.

The announcement came from Lim Young-dam, Chairman of the International Korean Language Education Foundation, who highlighted the unprecedented global surge in Korean language learning, driven largely by Korean pop culture and entertainment.

In an exclusive interview with Asian Community News (ACN) Network, Lim was in New Delhi to for the launch of countries’s first Korea Education Center (KEC), said, “Today, more than 250,000 middle and high school students worldwide are learning Korean as a second foreign language,” Lim said, underlining that Korean is no longer a niche language limited to academic interest but has become a mainstream global second language choice for young learners.

Lim stressed that for Korean language education to grow in a systematic and effective manner, three pillars are essential: a well-structured curriculum, quality textbooks, and qualified teachers. To address these needs globally, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the International Korean Language Education Foundation have been working together since 2021 to develop and distribute Korean language textbooks for overseas primary and secondary schools.

As part of this initiative, the Foundation has created country-specific textbooks aligned with global standards, using curricula that follow the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)—one of the most widely accepted systems for standardising language-learning levels internationally.

Lim noted that the Foundation has already developed and distributed locally adapted Korean textbooks for ten countries, including Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Brazil, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Russia, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Thailand. These books are designed not as generic Korean learning materials, but as region-specific resources that reflect local culture, learning environments, and student contexts—an approach that Korea now plans to extend to India.

In a major move linking education with global pop culture, Lim revealed that the Foundation signed an MoU with HYBE in 2021 to develop Korean language textbooks using Hallyu and BTS-related content. This partnership has enabled Korean language education to incorporate modern and engaging cultural references—making learning more relatable for young students across countries where K-pop is a dominant influence.

With India witnessing a strong rise in Korean cultural interest—through K-pop fandom, Korean dramas, Korean food trends, and growing academic engagement—Lim confirmed that the Foundation is preparing to create India-specific Korean language textbooks by 2026.

“Looking ahead, we plan to develop India-specific Korean language textbooks by 2026, with distribution scheduled to begin in 2027,” he stated.

The India-specific textbook project is expected to be a landmark step for Korean language education in India, especially as Korean increasingly enters mainstream youth culture and education pathways. Once rolled out in 2027, the localised textbooks could significantly boost structured Korean learning in Indian schools and institutions—by combining international-level curriculum design with Hallyu-powered engagement, and by reflecting Indian learning realities.

For India, this initiative also signals Korea’s long-term commitment to building deeper people-to-people connections—where language becomes both a cultural bridge and a future skill for new generations in education, careers, and cross-border collaboration.