A symposium on the development of Korean studies opened in Seoul on Thursday.

Experts on Korean studies from some 20 nations are taking part in the event hosted by the Korea Foundation.

Georgetown University Professor and Korean Peninsula expert Victor Cha and the former chief of Korean Buddhist Research Institute in Seoul, Robert Buswell, are in attendance.

Cha and Buswell expressed their interest in the spread of Korean Wave, or the rising popularity of South Korean pop culture around the world. They also discussed the future direction of Korean studies.

Statistics as of late last year show that there are professors of Korean studies at some 69 universities in twelve nations. According to the data, more than nine-thousand students take classes in Korean Studies worldwide a year.

The symposium ends on Saturday.