The education of classical Chinese has become a special area of focus in order to prepare for new competitive educational market in the 21st century of internationalization. Korea belongs to the cultural region of Chinese characters, together with China and Japan, which makes the education of Chinese characters as important as that of English. Especially because 70 percents of the Korean words are coined based on Chinese characters, a good command of classical Chinese

characters is essential to in-depth research at the university level as well as every day life.

The University establishes the Classical Chinese Education Center to conduct this very essential education and also administers Chinese Characters Skill Certification Examinations. The students of every department are qualified to graduate only after passing the certification examination of a specified number of Chinese Characters. The required number of Chinese characters to be studied is based on the level classification stipulated by the standards of the Korea Association of Chinese Character Capability Certification. Students certified by this exam are exempt from the mandatory Liberal Arts course, "Chinese Character Proficiency." This emphasis on Chinese character education is noted to be a unique characteristic of the University, especially in the present academic environment which puts a primary stress on the importance of western languages.