{
  "id": 12775036,
  "title": "181 language learners travel to Korea for Sejong Institute contest",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/181-language-learners-travel-to-korea-for-sejong-institute-contest-12775036",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-08T03:32:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/people-events/20261008/181-language-learners-travel-to-korea-for-sejong-institute-contest"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Amira Kamal Mohamed, an Egyptian, once had a shy personality and rarely spoke. However, learning Korean changed her life. The language provided her with a vast array of expressions to convey her emotions, something Arabic struggled to achieve. Mohamed, who studies at King Sejong Institutes in Cairo, aspires to become a Korean language interpreter. She was among 181 exceptional learners from 71 countries selected by the King Sejong Institute Foundation. They convened in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday to support the 20 finalists in the institute's Korean language speaking and writing contests. This event took place just two days before the 100th anniversary of Hangeul Day, which falls on Friday. The gathering provided a glimpse into the growing fascination with the Korean language, as many attendees had initially been drawn to it.",
  "summary": "HWASEONG, Gyeonggi Province —Amira Kamal Mohamed says she used to be a shy person who rarely spoke. That began to change a decade ago, when she took up Korean while living in her home country of Egypt. She found the language gave her far more ways to put her feelings into words than her native Arabic. \"In Arabic, 'sad' is just 'sad' and 'happy' is just 'happy,' but Korean has so many different…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "181 language learners travel to Korea for Sejong Institute contest",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/181-language-learners-travel-to-korea-for-sejong-institute-contest",
        "published": "2026-10-08T03:07:02.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}