K-pop fans dance to popular songs during the Korean culture festival, KCON, in Los Angeles in 2022. Courtesy of CJ ENM, Yonhap

The southeastern port city of Busan will open its first K-pop high school in March 2026 — the first of its kind to be established outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

The Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education announced that it plans to open the tentatively named Global K-POP School two years earlier than originally scheduled, recruiting 80 students for each grade.

The school will offer four majors: vocals, applied music, vocals and dance and composition. It plans to attract international students for up to 50 percent of its enrollment, given the global popularity of K-pop.

Experts in the K-pop industry are likely to be invited as teachers.

The education office will discuss the visa issues of foreign students with the Ministry of Education while seeking consultation with major K-pop management companies for the school's operation.

It will also join forces with other parties such as the National Institute for International Education and the Korea Tourism Organization to draw international students.

The school will be built on the site of the now-closed Garak Middle School. The middle school will get a facelift to provide a suitable environment for K-pop education, with a new dormitory that can accommodate all students.

"We are witnessing the constant growth of the K-pop-related industry, but we do not have sufficient educational institutions specializing in this field," the city office said in January, explaining why it decided to set up the school. "There's a growing need for such institutions and curriculum to incubate K-pop talent."

Korea built its first K-pop high school — High School of Korean Pop and Performing Arts — in South Chungcheong Province in 2020.

K-pop is one of the most profitable industries in the country, with export sales of K-pop albums reaching a new high of $290 million in 2023, according to the Korea Customs Service (KCS). This marks a 25.4 percent increase from 2022.