A growing number of public elementary and junior high schools in the U.S. have been introducing the Korean language in the classroom.

An education institute run by the South Korean consulate general in San Francisco says that ten more schools in California, New York and New Jersey adopted Korean as a regular course last year. Now a total of 60 public schools in the U.S. offer Korean classes and schools in Arizona are also considering introducing the East Asian tongue as a foreign language option.

The number of schools offering the course is expected to continue to rise this year. It's a trend believed to have been influenced by the Korean pop culture sensation called the Korean Wave.