SEOUL - IN A tight labour market, South Korean Kim Jung Ah's job search experience stands out.

Even before her university convocation ceremony early this year, the 24-year-old had already landed a job as a human resource officer with the Seoul office of the Schindler Group, the global elevator and escalator giant.

Her secret? Proficiency in English and Chinese, in addition to her native Korean.

'My employer conducted the job interview in English to assess my command of the language,' she said.

Knowledge of English is a given in South Korea nowadays and some employers go to the extent of hiring native English speakers to ask questions at interviews.

For Ms Kim, it was knowing Chinese that helped her nail the position.

'It gave me an edge, as the job requires occasional business trips to China,' she said.

South Koreans who know two foreign languages are on the rise.

In all high schools, English is mandatory and students can choose a second foreign language from a list that includes Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, French, German and Spanish.

The rationale is simple.

'English is an international language that must be mastered,' said retired high school principal Cho Yong Jae. 'But learning another language - especially languages of neighbouring countries such as China - gives Koreans an advantage when interacting with them.'

Robust economic trade with China over the past 15 years of diplomatic relations has led to more South Koreans learning Chinese.

The number of Chinese teachers in South Korean high schools rose from 326 in 2000 to 879 last year, Ministry of Education figures showed.

China is now South Korea's top trading partner. Bilateral trade has risen more than 18 times from US$6.4 billion (S$9.76 billion) in 1992 to US$118 billion last year.

There are about 43,000 South Korean firms in China and the number of South Koreans there is expected to hit one million by next year.

But Chinese is not the only foreign language drawing students in ever larger numbers; Arabic is also gaining ground as a second foreign language.

The number of students taking Arabic in their university entrance exams went up from 599 in 2005 to 2,399 last year.

'We want to provide Arabic-speaking manpower to a growing number of Korean businesses making inroads into the Middle East,' an official from the premier Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul told The Straits Times.

For students who wonder about the value of learning additional foreign languages, the answer lies in job advertisements.

The number of positions requiring foreign language skills jumped 150 per cent from 68,400 in 2004 to 102,600 jobs last year - 17 per cent of the all new jobs, a report last month by online recruitment agency Incruit showed.

Employers want recruits who can speak everything from Chinese to French, Japanese and Vietnamese.

Incruit said: 'Business opportunities between Korean firms and their partners in Europe and Asia's emerging markets have increased.'

Two thirds of the top 700 companies in South Korea have branches or regional offices abroad, the Federation of Korean Industries stated.

The country's leading cosmetics firm, Amore Pacific, is expanding into European and Chinese markets and is seeking recruits who can speak French and Chinese.

Some employers actively encourage Koreans to invest more time in language studies. Many hire part-time language instructors to come to the office to teach their staff during lunchtime or after work.

'If I could go back to university, I would work more on my English and Chinese. One can hone one's professional skills after starting work but language ability is not something that can be mastered within a short period,' Hyundai Securities president and chief executive officer Kim Ji Wan recently told The Korea Times.

Korean international pop star Rain once lamented that he regretted not paying more attention during English language classes in school.

Mindful of the premium on foreign language skills, many South Koreans are paying extra to secure it, with many going overseas to study.

They make up the majority of foreign students in the United States and China. There are 94,000 South Koreans studying in the US and 54,000 in China.

Those who cannot afford the time or money to study abroad go to private schools instead.

And it is common to find office workers and students attending one-hour language classes at private schools on weekdays at 7am before going to the office or school.

South Korea's private tuition market is estimated to be worth 33.5 trillion won (S$54.3 billion) - about 4 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product.

The figure even exceeds the government's entire education budget of some 31 trillion won.

Going forward, the thirst to learn foreign languages is likely to grow even more.

Said Ms Kim: 'In such a competitive environment, foreign language skills are a must if a person wants to get or keep a job.'