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The Korean language is getting more popular among non-Koreans as the popularity of Korean drama, films and other pop culture products abroad grows and the economic power of South Korea, the world's 11th-largest economy, rises.

More than 100,000 people are enrolled in Korean language classes in 14 countries, according to figures released by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development on Thursday.

The statistics, compiled by the ministry-affiliated Institute of Korean Education, which runs Korean language schools worldwide, show that the United States has the biggest portion with 43,746, followed by 13,667 in Russia , 5,776 in Canada and 4,186 in Australia.

In Europe, Germany leads with 1,516 students, followed by Britain with 755 and France with 361.

About 2,500 students are learning Korean in South America, with more than half of them in Brazil.

Japan saw a large increase in the number of the students enrolled in Korean language schools there, growing 128 percent to 3,854 in 2007 from 1,693 a year earlier, according to the ministry figures.

The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported Wednesday that more Japanese high school students are choosing the Korean language as a subject in Japan's state-administered college entrance exam, making Korean the third most popular foreign language in Japan after English and Chinese.

While French and German are taught in 248 and 105 Japanese high schools, respectively, Korean is taught in 286 schools, up from 73 schools in 1995, the paper said. The Chinese language is taught in 553 schools.

The ministry attributes the rapidly growing popularity of the Korean language in Japan to the rise of South Korean pop culture, known as "Hallyu" (Korea wave) in Korean.

Hallyu emerged in Japan in 2003 when the Korean television series "Winter Sonata" was broadcast there. Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo, who starred in the tragic love story, became popular in Japan

SEOUL, July 12 (Yonhap News)