TOPIK 2013

Yesterday, a lot of friends took TOPIK. It has been reported that more than 1 million people have taken the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) so far.

The Ministry of Education said a total of 18,702 people applied to sit the TOPIK at 18 test sites on Sunday, bringing the accumulated total to 1.02 million.

The TOPIK measures proficiency in grammar, reading, listening and writing of Korean of foreigners whose mother tongue is not Korean. The first annual test took place in four countries in 1997.

Some 2,692 people took the test in 1997, and after a decade the number increased 12 times to 34,028 in 2006.

This year, the TOPIK is sat in 62 countries.

The Ministry believes that the Korean Wave, the expansion of Korean businesses overseas and efforts to promote the language contributed to the jump in the number of TOPIK takers.