Seoul Foreign School in South Korea has named Jennings its 2020 Alumnus of the Year, and he'll deliver the commencement speech in June to the graduating class of 2021.

The school says this is the highest honor it bestows upon alumni, and it recognizes the recipient's "excellence in their chosen field of endeavor and outstanding service to the community or profession, as well as devotion to SFS."

So, the obvious question ... South Korea??? That's correct. Jennings moved there with his parents at age 7 due to their jobs, and he attended SFS from grades 2-12 until he was 17 ... graduating high school in 1992.

Jennings says ... "It's hard to overstate how my eleven years at SFS shaped me as a person, and continues to loom in my psyche." He adds ... "I couldn't feel more honored by this award, given my fond memories of Seoul Foreign."

Ken's also said many times his time in S. Korea led to his desire to learn as much as possible about America and the world ... and his obsession with "Jeopardy!" He watched almost daily with friends after school on the one channel he got.

The rest, as they say, is history. Jennings won a record 74 games in a row on the game show in 2004, and in early 2020 ... he was crowned 'The Greatest of All Time' in a tournament with the other 2 most successful contestants ever -- Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer.

Of course, one can't mention Jennings without thinking of the late, great Alex Trebek, who died November 8 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Ken was one of his biggest fans and is set to guest host "Jeopardy!" after Alex's final episode airs Xmas Day.