Countries around the world have introduced global education programs into their existing systems in order to educate a more globally minded citizenry. As part of this process, nations must negotiate between norms of global education and local educational ideas. Korea is no different. Through a theoretical lens of world society theory and Gi-Wook Shin’s theory of Korean globalization, I conduct a case study of Hankuk foreign language high school and its alumni, which investigates a particular instance of this tension and integration between global and local educational imperatives. Analysis of school documents and alumni experiences reveals that there may exist a particular brand of Korean global education, one that simultaneously breeds a global and national citizenry. Korean global education on one hand embraces globalism, by educating students to become cosmopolitan, globally aware citizens. On the other, it inspires localism by producing citizens who should take pride in their ethnic identity and are compelled to contribute to the growth and success of the Korean nation-state.
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