Few writing systems connect people across the world by overcoming language barriers. As South Korea marks the 100th anniversary of Hangul Day and the 580th anniversary of the promulgation of Hunminjeongeum in 2026, Hangul — the great legacy of King Sejong — is drawing fresh attention far beyond the Korean Peninsula. In India, too, several universities that run Korean language programs hold elaborate celebrations for Hangul Day.
Relations between India and Korea began with Buddhist exchanges and the legend of the marriage between King Kim Suro and Heo Hwang-ok, then moved through trade and diplomacy to the Korean Wave. Hangul has now become the key medium driving a new phase in bilateral ties. From New Delhi to Manipur, Jharkhand and Chennai, a growing number of Indians are learning Hangul.
The circumstances behind Hangul's creation resonate with the educational goals India pursues today. King Sejong lowered the barriers to writing and knowledge that a privileged few had monopolized, creating a script ordinary people could learn easily. In doing so, he widened the path for commoners, and women in particular, to take part in scholarship and culture. That same spirit of inclusion can be seen in the spread of Korean language education in India today. Learners are increasing not only in large cities such as Delhi and Mumbai but also in smaller towns and rural areas.
Only a few decades ago, studying Korean in India was an unfamiliar pursuit. Jawaharlal Nehru University was the first institution in India to introduce Korean studies and remains a pioneer in the field in South Asia. Korean studies later spread to many educational institutions and grew quickly, but teaching infrastructure and specialized faculty failed to keep pace with rising demand. Once the interest of a handful of scholars, Korean studies has now developed into a nationwide phenomenon. Korean classrooms draw learners from varied backgrounds — not only university students but also office workers and entrepreneurs. The growing number of King Sejong Institutes and the expansion of Korean language courses in India's major cities show that a fundamental change is under way in how Indians engage with Korea.
Many point to the success of K-pop and Korean dramas as the main driver of the Korean language boom. The Korean Wave is indeed an important force. K-pop stars including BTS, along with Korean films and dramas that won global popularity through online streaming platforms, have drawn countless Indians to Korean culture. Korean content has achieved what official diplomacy cannot easily accomplish: it has instilled curiosity about and affinity for Korea among the public, making the country feel closer.
But consuming cultural content is only the beginning. The true value of the Korean Wave lies not in enjoying content but in going further — studying the Korean language and society and building careers in related fields. Young Indians are growing from fans into scholars, from viewers into translators, from consumers into professionals. If Hangul opened a door to a new world, Indians are now stepping through it and broadening their points of contact with Korea. As Korean language institutions and enrollment increase across India, language learning is emerging as the most enduring legacy the Korean Wave will leave behind.
An important turning point in this shift came in 2020, when India's National Education Policy (NEP) included Korean on the list of foreign languages to be taught at the secondary level. The change drew little public notice, but it carried considerable significance for India's future education and multilingualism policy. Korean was formally incorporated into the policy agenda for India's global engagement and multilingual education.
Korea is an innovative country with world-class competitiveness across fields including technology, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and shipbuilding. As India strengthens its manufacturing capacity and expands technological cooperation, the importance of language skills, including Korean, is also growing. For bilateral cooperation to expand, engineers must collaborate across borders, researchers must make use of Korean scholarships and research opportunities, and professionals must understand the organizational culture and working methods of Korean companies. In this sense, Hangul and the Korean language go beyond being a means of communication and function as infrastructure underpinning economic cooperation.
In the past, physical facilities such as roads, ports and railways were considered core infrastructure. In the 21st century, however, language is also an important pillar of human infrastructure. Language conveys not only goods but also ideas, knowledge and mutual trust. The many students in India learning Korean today are steadily building the human foundation that will drive exchanges between the two countries in business, science, technology and diplomacy.
In recent discussions between India and Korea, educational cooperation, student exchanges, teacher training, language education and academic exchange have been treated as major items on the bilateral agenda. Korea has indeed supported Korean studies abroad through scholarships and other means, but given India's scale and strategic importance, that support needs to be expanded further. The Korea Foundation (KF), which supports Korean studies worldwide, maintains regional offices in countries including China, Vietnam and Germany, yet has no permanent office in India, the world's most populous country. Calls to establish a KF office in India have been raised for years. A permanent base would help provide systematic support for Korean studies research and education and expand academic, cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. It could also create synergy with the academic and cultural exchange activities the Japan Foundation has pursued in South Asia for decades. Alongside expanded government support, the groundwork for voluntary cooperation among universities should also be broadened.
With the United States tightening rules on international students, Korea has an opportunity to emerge as an attractive study destination for talent from around the world. Expanding Korean language programs, providing scholarships and improving visa procedures for Indian students could lower the threshold for studying in Korea and strengthen the international competitiveness of Korean universities. With the pool of college applicants shrinking because of a low birth rate, attracting outstanding talent from abroad could also invigorate universities and the research ecosystem. If Korea turns the crisis of population decline into a new opportunity through proactive education policy, it could grow into an educational hub drawing students not only from Asia but from around the world.
As the Indo-Pacific region becomes ever more competitive and interdependent, the sustainability of India-Korea relations depends not only on the two countries' strategic interests but also on how steadily they accumulate human capital. Political change may affect the mood of the bilateral relationship, but the Indian students learning Korean today are expected to become the central figures connecting tomorrow's diplomacy, commerce, scholarship, media and innovation.
In that sense, Hangul Day is not an occasion only for the Korean community or for university language departments. It shows that India-Korea relations have entered a phase that cannot be explained by trade volume, memorandums of understanding and the ratings of Korean dramas alone. Hangul is now being recognized for new value in India's classrooms and educational institutions. A script created in one country to raise literacy among its people is now developing into a solid bridge linking India and Korea, two major democracies in Asia. If the Korean Wave introduced Korea to India, Hangul is becoming the key that helps Indians understand Korea more deeply.
The future of India-Korea relations may be discussed at summits, but those who will substantively sustain that future are the young Indians who have decided to learn the language of their Korean counterparts. Hangul is no longer a writing system belonging to Korea alone. It is establishing itself as an important asset underpinning diplomacy and economic cooperation between the two countries. Artificial intelligence can translate words, but it struggles to fully convey the subtle meanings embedded in wisdom, emotion and historical context. Human language nurtures empathy, allows for an understanding of fine nuance, and builds the trust between people that algorithms alone cannot create.
Ju Si-gyeong, the Korean linguist who coined the name "Hangul," left remarks to the effect that language is what allows the intentions of one person to reach another. When Indians learn Korean for themselves, they can engage far more deeply with Korean society without relying on subtitles and mediated cultural images. Hangul and the Korean language will bind India and Korea more firmly together by extending the foundation of diplomatic and economic cooperation into intercultural understanding and by allowing each side to share the other's ideas and experiences.
