Why 180,000 Vietnamese Are Learning Korean in 2026 — And the Salary Boost Driving It

If you've been binge-watching K-dramas or streaming K-pop playlists and quietly wondering whether learning Korean is actually worth the effort — Vietnam is your answer. Right now, the country is in the middle of a Korean language boom that has nothing to do with fandom and everything to do with paychecks.

In 2023, Vietnam became one of the first countries in the world to officially designate Korean as a first foreign language alongside English, Chinese, and Japanese. As of 2026, Korean is a regular subject in elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide — not an elective, not an after-school club, a core class. That single policy decision reflects something Southeast Asia is quietly waking up to: Korean fluency is becoming one of the highest-ROI skills a young person in this region can acquire.

The numbers behind Vietnam's Korean language surge

The scale of the shift is striking:

• The number of Korean learners in Vietnam jumped from roughly 80,000 in 2020 to over 180,000 by 2025 — more than doubling in five years.
• Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City each have more than 200 registered Korean language academies.
• Vietnam consistently ranks first in all of Southeast Asia for TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) candidates — and that figure is still climbing.
• Over 100 schools in major Vietnamese cities now run regular Korean language classes.
• Korean Studies departments at top universities — including Hanoi National University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities — now have higher competition ratios than English departments.

None of this happened by accident. It was pulled forward by one force above all others: jobs.

From K-drama hobby to K-career: how the motivation shifted

Korean culture has been flowing into Vietnam for decades. When the historical K-drama Daejanggeum aired on Vietnamese national television in 2005, learning Korean was a hobby — a way to connect more deeply with a show you loved. The Hallyu wave had arrived, and fans followed.

Today's Korean learners in Vietnam have a completely different mindset. For them, Korean isn't the language of dramatic confession scenes and slow-burn romance arcs. It's an economic instrument — one with a measurable return on investment.

Vietnam is now one of Korea's top three trading partners and its largest overseas manufacturing base. As of 2025, more than 9,000 Korean-invested companies operate in Vietnam. That's 9,000 workplaces where Korean speakers have an immediate edge — in translation, trade, quality control, HR, and management roles — the moment they walk through the door.

The Samsung effect: Korean fluency as a salary multiplier

The most visible driver of the boom is Samsung. The company's Vietnam factories in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen alone employ around 100,000 workers. Korean-speaking employees at Samsung and similar companies — LG, Lotte, and thousands of smaller Korean firms — typically earn 40 to 60 percent more at entry level than their non-Korean-speaking counterparts in equivalent roles.

That salary gap is the single biggest reason young Vietnamese are filling academies every evening, pencilling Hangul characters into notebooks in unmarked three-storey buildings down narrow alleyways in Hanoi's old quarter.

💡 Good to know: Holding a TOPIK Level 4 or above significantly boosts your chances of clearing the initial application screening at major Korean employers operating in Vietnam — including Samsung, LG, and Lotte.

The return entrepreneur: Vietnam's Korean career formula

Beyond local employment, tens of thousands of Vietnamese apply every year through the EPS (Employment Permit System) for the chance to work in Korea itself. EPS-TOPIK scores — a separate Korean language exam specifically designed for EPS applicants — are the primary selection criterion. Competition is intense, and language ability is the differentiator.

What makes this especially compelling is what happens when workers come home. A return entrepreneurship model has taken hold across Vietnam: work in Korea for roughly three years, save enough capital, return and launch a small business. It's a well-worn path with a growing track record. And the detail that changes the math — the higher your Korean proficiency, the more likely you are to land an office or management position rather than a factory floor role. That means better savings, broader networks, and stronger career capital to build something when you return.

For a young person in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City weighing their options, Korean fluency is starting to look less like a language skill and more like a structured career investment with a clear exit strategy attached.

Your Korean learning roadmap: from zero to job-ready

Whether you're in Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, or anywhere else in Southeast Asia, the pathway is increasingly well-mapped. Here's how the journey typically looks:

1. Beginner (0–6 months): Start with Hangul, the Korean writing system. It looks unfamiliar at first, but it's entirely phonetic — most motivated learners can read it within a week or two. The Sejong Institute (세종학당) offers free online courses through its website, which is one of the best structured starting points available. Vietnamese learners have a specific vocabulary advantage here worth knowing: because Vietnamese draws roughly 60–70% of its vocabulary from Chinese loanwords — and Korean does too — there are surprising numbers of words that sound similar and share meaning across both languages. This overlap accelerates early vocabulary acquisition.
2. Elementary to intermediate (6 months–2 years): Set your sights on TOPIK I (Levels 1–2). Supplement structured study with immersive listening — try watching K-dramas for short stretches without subtitles. Offline classes at a Sejong Institute branch in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, or Da Nang are free; certified private academies are a paid alternative. Check for King Sejong Institute Foundation accreditation before enrolling anywhere.
3. Intermediate to advanced (2+ years): Target TOPIK II (Levels 3–6). At this stage, specialized business Korean or interpretation courses become relevant. The Korean government's Global Korea Scholarship (GKS) also opens up as an option for those interested in studying in Korea directly.

⚠️ Worth checking: If you're choosing a private Korean academy, verify it holds King Sejong Institute Foundation accreditation. Some uncertified academies run informal conversation loops without a real curriculum — fine for casual speaking practice, but insufficient preparation for TOPIK.

What Vietnam's boom signals for the rest of Southeast Asia

Vietnam is the most dramatic case study, but the momentum is spreading. K-beauty, K-pop, and K-drama have already built a massive base of motivated potential learners across Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. What Vietnam demonstrates is the next step: what converts cultural interest into serious study is economic reward. As Korean corporate investment in Southeast Asia continues to deepen, expect the salary premium for Korean speakers to become visible in more markets across the region.

The language is learnable, the resources are increasingly accessible and often free, and the career upside — whether at a Korean company in your home country or through the EPS pathway to Korea itself — is real, growing, and well-documented. TOPIK is the credential that unlocks three separate pathways at once: local Korean company employment, EPS work in Korea, and Korean university study. One exam, three doors.