Many economists describe English as a the global language, at least as far as financial transactions go. As a result, many Korean school systems are pushing English programs that will allow students to acquire the vocabulary for participating in a global economy. The hope is that this will attract foreign investors who can easily communicate and expand in the country, and it will also allow Koreans to leave the country to work elsewhere.
A side effect of teaching English in schools is that it can encourage Westernization. Westernization refers to the process by which the motivations, cultural aspects and moral values are indoctrinated and taught in Asian societies. On a concrete level, teachers may teach lesson plans that utilize English to describe typical American pastimes. While this teaches the students English, it also reinforces these pastime activities to Koreans, whose culture may be very different. By exporting English to Korea, Westerners are also exporting culture.
Teaching English in Asian countries often requires bringing a lot of teachers to the area, who act as experts to teach young students. Whereas this can be a positive experience for both teachers and students, in which cultural exchange enriches the academic environment, it can also pose problems for students who are not used to the differing cultural customs of foreigners. Some extreme examples involve teachers committing sexually-inappropriate acts with students. Many schools are desperate to get teachers, and they will allow young and inexperienced individuals to come teach, which may lead to behavior problems.
In addition to the economic and financial capabilities that English learning may avail, it can also help students learn computer programming, which is a huge industry in North and South Korea. Because most computer programming languages utilize a combination of English (and alphabetic) letters along with numbers, learning the letters is a key to programming. In addition, many Koreans see outsourced jobs as a great opportunity, and learning English is the key to obtaining these kinds of jobs.