A plan by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) to establish an independent graduate school dedicated to Korean literary translation in Seoul has been delayed as it went against the government's initiative for "balanced regional development." The institution is now reviewing an interim master's program with a national university outside Seoul while continuing to pursue the longer-term goal of a standalone facility. The state-run institute under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has long operated a translation academy that has nurtured translators who bring Korean literature to wider international audiences. Its key limitation, however, has been that the program falls outside the official degree education system. To address that, the institute planned to open an independent graduate school in Seoul in September 2027. Those plans have since been revised, according to government officials and other sources, and it is now in talks with regional universities to launch a master's degree program as an interim step instead. “As a transitional measure, we have rev