KT will start providing real-time subtitles in eight languages for its internet protocol TV service Olleh TV, starting Monday, to better serve foreign-born customers in South Korea, the mobile carrier said Sunday.

Multilingual subtitling will be offered for four news channels and will feature subtitles in English, Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, Vietnamese and Uzbek. 

KT unveiled the world’s first real-time multilingual subtitling technology at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics in February, where it provided six languages including German and Spanish on 5,000 IPTV sets in the athletes’ accommodations as well as the stadiums and hotels.

Within the year, the mobile carrier plans to add Thai and Filipino.

There were around 320,000 multicultural households in Korea as of 2017, according to Statistics Korea, while the total number of foreign residents stood at 1.36 million.

“We hope the world’s first real-time subtitle technology helps prevent the alienation of multicultural members of our society,” said Yi Seong-hwan, vice president of KT’s marketing division.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)