Primary and secondary schools in Turkey will be able to teach Korean as a second foreign language for their students beginning next year.

   The Turkish education ministry announced in the official gazette on Wednesday that Korean has recently been added to the list of foreign languages that can be taught in schools, along with Persian and Urdu.

   Currently, Turkish students must learn one of the three first foreign languages -- English, French or German -- and can choose to learn a second foreign language permitted by the education ministry.

   "We became able to teach Korean in Turkish schools as a result of our efforts made in cooperation with the department of Korean language and literature at Ankara University and Korean language professors in the country," said Cho Dong-jin, chief of the Korean Cultural Center in Turkey.

   He expressed hope that the move will help further grow the Turkish society's interest in the Korean language, boosted by the popularity of Korean pop culture in the country. (Yonhap)