This paper presents a study on motivating and demotivating factors in learning Korean. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the learning motivation and demotivation of university students in Singapore taking Korean as unrestricted elective, and investigate what differences exist in the motivating and demotivating factors based on their Korean levels. Through the analysis of surveys on university students in Singapore, it was found that their major motivating factors were the travel orientation and the cultural interest. These motivating factors did not show any difference depending on the Korean levels. The major demotivating factors of Korean learners were the evaluation factor and the language factor. By interpreting open-ended responses, the competition factor was found as a demotivating factor. In addition, the competition factor and the language factor showed differences between the first level and the second level and above. This study suggests to motivate Korean learners by applying the major motivating factors to a class and weakening the major demotivating factors.