It would be difficult to tell that she's not Korean if someone were to chat with her on a mobile messenger.

Hanieh Sadat Kazami, 18, is Iranian, but she can text in Korean slang and abbreviations on mobile messengers just like any other Korean. While most Iranian women use Germany-based Telegram to chat over smartphones, Kazami even uses Kakao Talk, South Korea's most popular mobile messenger application.

"I use Telegram for my Iranian friends and Kakao Talk for my Korean friends," Kazami said.

On June 23, she won a Korean language speaking contest in Tehran. At the event organized by the South Korea-sponsored King Sejong Institute, contestants were divided into two groups -- elementary and intermediate -- based on their Korean speaking skills. Kazami topped the intermediate class, although she only has studied Korean about a year.

"Her speaking, writing and reading levels are very high," said Choi Yeon-suk, chief of the institute's Tehran branch. "If foreigners want to speak Korean like Kazami in just a year of learning, they should have very good linguistic sense and study very hard."

Kazami said she began learning Korean after watching Korean TV dramas.

"Last year, one of my friends showed me the South Korean drama 'You're Beautiful' with Iranian subtitles, and I loved it," she said. "I was looking to learn another foreign language in addition to English. I decided to go with Korean after watching the drama."

Kazami then searched Korean textbooks online and self-studied the language until she registered at the institute's Korean language school in Tehran this March. Among five classes offered by the school, Kazami was able to enter the second most advanced class.

"When I first saw Korean characters, it was like a picture," she said. "But now, I speak Korean first even when I'm surprised. I think this is because Korean is the language that can best express human emotions."

Kazami said she is now interested in Korean culture too.

"I was amazed that there are lots of similarities between Iran and South Korea," she said. "For example, women here wear the hijab, and it was interesting that South Korean women in the old days wore a long veil called 'sseugae chima.'"

As a winner from Iran, Kazami will enter the Korean speaking contest finals in Seoul in September. She said she also wants to finish first at the contest where winners from other countries can also join.

"I have eight textbooks from the Sejong Institute, but I have to read four of them in the next two months," she said. "It already makes me nervous."

Kazami, however, said she is happy to visit South Korea and wants to go to some K-pop concerts.

"I want to study Korean more and become a person who can serve as a bridge between South Korea and Iran," she said. "If I have a chance, I want to study in South Korea, majoring in industrial design." (Yonhap)