The Seoul Global Center will provide counseling service in the Uzbek language to help a growing number of Uzbeks settle in Seoul, officials said Sunday.

The Uzbek language becomes the eighth foreign language the center provides after English, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Russian and Tagalog languages. The new service starts on Tuesday.

The center offers multilingual consulting service for foreign residents in Seoul ranging from legal, tax and real estate counseling to living assistance such as help in applications for a driver’s license, mobile phone use and job searching. The center is visited by an average of 450 foreigners daily.

The center hired an Uzbek student as a consultant for the new service. The newly hired consultant surnamed Shahnoza has recently completed a master’s program in sociology at the Graduate School of the Academy of Korean Studies and majored in Korean language at Samarkand State University, one of the top public universities in Uzbekistan.

“I would like to help Uzbekistani workers and women who are married to Korean men settle in Korean society by making full use of my study in sociology and the Korean language,” said Shahnoza.

Director of the Seoul Global Center Kang Sun-seop said the center will continue to improve its service for the fast-growing foreign population in Seoul. There are currently about 360,000 foreign residents in Seoul.

The Seoul Global Center also sends its consultants to foreigner-heavy residential areas such as the Mongolian town in Gwanghee-dong, Filipino town in Hyehwa-dong or Itaewon twice a week, Wednesday and Sunday, to meet the demands of foreigners who cannot visit the center personally due to their jobs.

Visitors to the center can have their questions or problems solved with help from consultants dispatched from related public and private agencies, center officials said.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)