Empowering the Ukrainian language through the prism of foreign language education in the republic of Korea: focusing on the act on the promotion of education of critical foreign languages / Розширення можливостей вивчення української мови як іноземної в Республіці Корея: закон “Про сприяння викладанню критично важливих іноземних мов”

Despite the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and Ukraine were established in 1992, the cooperation between the two countries was not significant in view of Korea’s territorial proximity with Russia and many other aspects that prevented Seoul from getting closer to Kyiv. The cultural and educational exchange thus was somewhat limited, which did not allow Ukrainian language education to bloom in full. The situation, however, improved with the implementation of the Act on the Promotion of Education of Critical Foreign Languages in August 2016. The Act aims at cultivating competent personal with a high proficiency in the languages that are regarded as such that could potentially contribute to achieving the Republic of Korea’s diplomatic, national security, economic, as well as science and technology exchange goals. Ukrainian was selected to the list of the critical foreign languages. This article has the objectives as follows. First, it aims at analyzing the strategic background of the Republic of Korea’s government having adopted the law in 2016. Second, the article shows why the Ukrainian language was selected to the critical language list. Third, the article elaborates on the prospects of the Ukrainian language education improvement on the backdrop of the Republic of Korea’s aim of active participation in the post-war reconstruction efforts. It is argued that the reasons for adopting the Act on the Promotion of Education of Critical Foreign Languages should be viewed through the lens of the Republic of Korea’s diplomacy as a middle power. This logic led to the Republic of Korea’s interest in Ukraine, which in turn prompted interest in the Ukrainian language. On the backdrop of the Republic of Korea’s deep interest in Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and strategic cooperation with Ukraine amidst the Russia-North Korea’s deepening military partnership since 2022, Ukrainian was cited as a government funding priority critical language in accordance with the Second Five-Year Plan (2022-2026) adopted in September 2021 in the framework of the Act.