Ten students from grand-prize-winning teams at Thailand’s Korean-language speech contest to visit Korea

[Financial News] Ten students who won the grand prize at a Korean-language speech contest on Thailand’s participation in the Korean War will visit Korea for five days starting on the 26th. The students will meet Korean War veterans and visit a memorial to Thai forces who fought in the war and the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), among other places, to learn about the history of the war and the meaning of peace.
According to the Ministry of Education on the 26th, the program was organized by inviting the grand-prize-winning teams from the middle school and university divisions of the 2026 Korean Language Speech Contest, held on September 18 by the Korean Education Center in Thailand, which is affiliated with the ministry. The winning teams consist of students from Triam Udom Suksa School and Chulalongkorn University, with five participants from each team. During the Korean War, Thailand was the second country after the United States, and the first in Asia, to dispatch ground troops.
On the 27th, the delegation will visit the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan District and meet with Korean War veterans. On the 28th, it will visit a memorial to Thai forces who fought in the war in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, and take part in DMZ peace and security activities at the Imjingak Peace Gondola and Camp Greaves in Paju. After visiting leading high schools and universities in Korea on the 29th, the delegation is scheduled to experience Korean culture around Gyeongbokgung Palace and Insa-dong on the 30th before departing.
Thailand has the largest number of students studying Korean as part of the regular curriculum at primary, middle and high schools overseas. As of 2025, 45,406 students at 214 schools were studying Korean. In 2025, 3,281 students took Korean, which is offered as a second foreign-language subject on Thailand’s university entrance examination (A-LEVEL). They accounted for 14.1% of all test takers in second foreign-language subjects, ranking Korean third among those subjects by number of test takers.
The Ministry of Education has dispatched Korean-language teachers to support Korean-language education in Thailand since 2011. In 2026, it sent 47 Korean teachers, trained 30 local teachers and supported training for around 500 people. In 2025, it distributed 44,000 Korean-language textbooks tailored to Thailand.
Lee Nan-young, the Ministry of Education’s director of international education planning, said, “As the case of Thailand shows, the educational impact would be considerable if students could understand history and international relations through the Korean language.” She added, “The ministry will continue to work to provide students in Korean-language classes overseas with a wider range of opportunities.”

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter