KSI Brussels holds a signboard hanging ceremony!

Heejin KIM, Director of KSI Brussels in Belgium

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Belgium has experienced three lockdowns and strong travel restrictions, causing many difficulties such as several delays to the King Sejong Institute (KSI) Brussels signboard ceremony and complete revision of the lesson plan.

Finally, on May 4, 2021, at the EPFC School where the KSI office is located in Brussels, Serge Bressers, General Director of EPFC School, Francoise Janssens, Assistant Director of EPFC School, Cédric VANVELTHEM, Language Manager of EPFC School, Heejin KIM, Director of KSI Brussels, Sarah PARK, Operator of KSI Brussels, Jaehwan KIM, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in Belgium, and Juri KIM, working-level officer of the Korean Culture Center attended the KSI Brussels signboard hanging ceremony.

The signboard hanging ceremony was held safely and successfully, starting with congratulatory remarks by Jaehwan KIM, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in Belgium, and Serge Bressers, General Director of EPFC School, in which they shared their intentions to cooperate with each other for the purpose of spreading Korean language and culture awareness.

The non-profit Belgian Korean Cultural Education Association was designated as KSI Brussels by KSIF in June 2020. The number of learners who love Korean language and culture and come to KSI in Belgium, a small country the size of North and South Gyeongsang Province in Korea, is increasing year by year. In particular, Brussels received KSI designation because it offers a large cultural ripple effect as capital of Europe and has a large floating population, with people from 183 countries living together and speaking 200 languages. KSI Brussels is the second KSI established in the country, following the launch of the KSI operated by the Korean Cultural Center in Belgium.

KSI Brussels is divided into three campuses. At the campus in the Woluwe-Saint-Pierre district, which has a sisterhood relationship with the Gangnam district in Seoul, Korean language, cooking, and folk tales classes are held for local residents at the culture center. The second campus is EPFC school, run by the government of Wallonie-Brussels, which offers three Korean language classes. EPFC School provides lifelong education courses, pre-university courses, and vocational training courses. The number of students is approximately 10,000, and it is located in the heart of Brussels, surrounded by finance buildings and the European Central Government. Finally, the UCLouvain University campus is a run by the government of Wallonie-Brussels, and is currently on hold due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

KSI Brussels offers a total of 8 online Korean classes and 2 online cooking classes, as face-to-face tuition is not currently available, and the number of learners stands at 207. In the future, KSI Brussels plans to expand the spread of Korean language and culture in cooperation with local government agencies.

▲ From left, Jaehwan KIM, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in Belgium, Heejin KIM, Director of KSI Brussels, Sarah PARK, Operator of KSI Brussels, Serge Bressers, General Director of EPFC School, and Francoise Janssens, Assistant Director of EPFC School.

▲ EPFC School Assistant Director Francoise Janssens introducing the school.