Just as there is a South Korean school in Tokyo, there is a Japanese school in Seoul. At both schools, most of the students are elementary school children whose parents represent companies in their home countries.

Several years ago, I visited the two schools. The visits led me to an interesting observation.

When I listened to the conversations of students playing on school grounds during recess, I noticed that students at the South Korean school were communicating primarily in Japanese, while adding occasional words in their native tongue. I was surprised by their Japanese fluency.

By comparison, conversations among students at the Japanese school were almost completely in Japanese. I found the contrast strange and reasoned that maybe it is easier for children to learn Japanese than Korean.

In the Republic of Korea (South Korea), senior high schools require students to learn a foreign language in addition to English. Since the current educational system was introduced during Japan's colonial rule, most Korean students chose either German or French as their second foreign language, as Japanese students did at that time. As a result, next to the United States, Germany and France became the preferred destinations for South Korean students studying abroad. But domestically, there was practically no use for the languages. It was also interesting that most male students chose German, while their female counterparts opted for French.

However, as society came to attach greater importance to practical usage, a major change took place. In the last few years, the number of schools adopting Japanese as a second foreign language has increased rapidly.

According to statistics compiled by the Office of Education in Seoul this year, the number of schools that chose Spanish stood at 12, Chinese 44, French 114 and German 124. Japanese, the most popular second foreign language, was chosen by 158 schools.

Furthermore, authorities who oversee college entrance examinations began this school year to allow students to take the exam in their second foreign language. The decision is expected to spur the popularity of Japanese language learning among high school students. The examination is comparable to Japan's University Entrance Examination Center test. A key difference, however, is that the exam has been adopted by all universities, including junior colleges, in South Korea. Some universities even select students based solely on this test. Given the exam's influence, it is only natural for university applicants to choose Japanese as a second foreign language because they want to score high marks.

In addition, some people say the recent boom is related to the rising popularity of Japanese culture initiated by the South Korean government. Many young people, who are fascinated by Japanese popular culture such as movies, music and animation that continue to pour into South Korea, attend Japanese language schools because they want to appreciate Japanese culture in Japanese. Such a trend is rousing the younger generation and accelerating the Japanese language learning boom among high school students.

In June, the president of the University of Tokyo visited Seoul and met with his counterpart at Seoul National University. The two schools agreed to establish courses for mutual studies, including language courses.

But conservative professors at Seoul National University raised objections, demanding that Tokyo University establish a Korean language course before Japanese courses were introduced at the university in Seoul. As a result, the opposition movement at the influential South Korean university stopped the trend aimed at lifting "the embargo on the Japanese language".

The conflict caused by the prestigious university led to a policy that is in direct opposition to the Japanese language boom at senior high schools.

Personally, I think it would be advantageous for students to get a head start to learn the language without a fuss, just like the children at the South Korean school in Tokyo.

The author is head of the Institute of Japanese Culture in Seoul.