The purpose of this study was to determine the principles that should serve as the basis for designing the Korean language curriculum for overseas K-12 schools to ensure that it complies with the local situation, has context specificity, and responds actively and flexibly within the purview of the foreign language education policy of the concerned country and the current education system. To this end, we first tried to analyze the recent trends in foreign language curriculum. As a result, we confirmed that there was consensus on the direction of macroscopic usage, especially through the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, when designing foreign language curriculum in overseas countries. Next, as a result of examining the current status of Korean language education and curriculum at overseas elementary and secondary schools, we found that the number of countries adopting Korean as a regular subject was steadily increasing. As a measure of mutual comparison, we identified not only the diversity of curriculum, or the gap between ambiguous, abstract, and broad criteria and specific and individual local standards, but also the issues for ensuring compatibility. Based on these issues and our understanding, we tried to construct key concepts and principles required for designing the Korean language curriculum for overseas K-12 schools with logical consistency. Consequently, we proposed a bi-hierarchic framework for curriculum design comprising the four principles of Flexibility, Coherence, Availability, and Standardness, which encompass eight rules, namely Openness, Plurality, Systematicity, Connectivity, Transparency, Authenticity, Comparability, and Compatibility.