BTS to offer Korean language lessons in new video series

SEOUL, March 23 (UPI) -- Like many bands, BTS has had to postpone upcoming tour dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but fans will soon have a new way to get their fix of the superstar septet: free Korean language lessons.

"Learn Korean with BTS," a series of short language videos, will launch Tuesday on the Weverse fan community app, the band's label Big Hit Entertainment announced on Monday.

Each episode will be built around existing footage from sources such as the Run BTS web variety series and behind-the-scenes videos Bangtan Bomb and BTS Episode.

The lessons will each be about 3 minutes long and will introduce simple Korean grammar and expressions. There are 30 episodes planned, with the first three to be available at launch and new lessons released every Monday thereafter.

The curriculum was developed with professors from the Department of Korean Education at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and researchers at the Korea Language Contents Institute, according to Big Hit.

The management company said it plans to add more educational content in the future and to incorporate other bands under its label umbrella, which includes Tomorrow x Together and girl group GFriend,

Korean language lessons will help international fans connect more closely with their favorite K-pop artists, Big Hit said.

"With the recent popularity of K-pop and other Korean cultural contents, the demand for learning Korean is increasing greatly, so we are planning Korean education contents to improve our accessibility," the company said in a statement. "We hope that through learning Korean, global fans will be able to deeply empathize with the music of artists and enjoy a wide range of contents."

BTS released their latest studio album, Map of the Soul: 7, last month. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States and topped music charts in several other countries, including Japan, Britain, Australia, Canada, France and Germany.